1 Corinthians 1:3-4 (How God works through terrible situations)

It's incredible how God works through terrible situations.

I have listed three versions of this verse because I like how they are all translated.

It's from 1 Corinthians 1:3-4.

"All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us." (NLT)

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." (NIV)

"All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us." (The Message)


This is my friend Allison and her brother Matt. 

Allison and I have been friends for as long as I can remember. We became friends in a unique way. She and her family live about four and half hours from where I live, but her grandparents go to church with us. She, her parents, and brother would always come up for holidays, and some over the summer. I don't really remember how we became friends, but every time she came up here, we would hang out. We have the best talks because we are very similar and are in about the same place spiritually. It's almost freaky how similar we are. I've always known that God has been blessing our friendship. Even though we live hours away, we would always just pick up where we left off every time we saw each other. We've always stayed in touch even when we don't see each other. 

Sunday, January 29th, 2012, Rebecca was admitted to the hospital to get the pain under control. It was pain from the tumors, but at that time we didn't know for sure what was causing the pain. That was when everything started. She had had scans that previous week, but they didn't have the results yet. We knew something was wrong, but we didn't know how serious it was.

That same Sunday night, January 29th, 2012, Allison's younger brother passed away unexpectedly.

I found out the next day, Monday, that Matt had gone to be with Jesus. When I heard, my heart immediately broke for them. I wasn't close to Matt, but Allison and I have a special bond and I just hurt for her. I couldn't even imagine what they were going through.

We texted a few times that week. I tried to let her know everyday that I was praying for her. I hope it brought even just a second of comfort. 

Later that week on Thursday, Rebecca asked if my family could go over to her house because they needed to talk to us. They told us that the cancer was everywhere, and that they were going to do everything they could to make her comfortable. 

Just five short weeks later, Rebecca went to be with Jesus. 

The first time I saw Allison since Matt passed away was the day after Rebecca's funeral. She and her parents came up here to visit family for spring break. We went  to a coffee and tea place and spent hours talking. We were there for hours, but it went by so fast. We talked about everything. We talked about the days that Matt and Rebecca went to be with Jesus. We talked about Heaven and wondered if they had met yet. We talked about what people have said to us that really shouldn't be said to someone after losing a loved one. We talked about the different phases of grieving. We talked about how we can't see why this happened yet. We talked about all the things that grief does to us, no matter how much we trust in God and His plan. We still grieve. We talked about our frustrations, but also how we are so thankful for the promises of God and how we don't know how you could go through this without Him.

She was also able to tell me what was to come. When she was here it had been almost six weeks since Matt went to be with Jesus, and only almost a week since Rebecca went to be with Jesus. 

It still seems crazy to me that we both lost someone very close to us within 6 weeks of each other. Even though losing a sibling and friend is totally different, God has used her to encourage and comfort me. I pray that I am able to encourage and comfort her too. We still text a lot and just talking to her is comforting.

I am so thankful for our friendship. God is working through these two terrible events. Please keep Allison and her family in her prayers. They are faithfully trusting in God, but it is still very hard.

Here is the link to her blog if you would like to leave an encouraging comment! I know she would love that.

http://arp10d.blogspot.com/