Sis. Stella Dhinakaran

“When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy”. (Psalm 94:19)

There are times of tribulations and you feel secluded to such an extent, that the thoughts; “God has forsaken me” are bound to cross your mind. But those, who love the Lord will never lack any good thing. In fact, the Lord will be with you in times of trouble and will console you, comfort you and protect you; as the Bible says, “When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy”(Psalm 94:19).

In the Bible, we read about a family who loved the Lord immensely- Mary, Martha and Lazarus. But, one day Lazarus fell sick and died and the family went through much pain and agony. When Jesus, came to know about this, He delayed going to see the family (John 11:4-6). However, when Jesus went to that town; He saw the tears of Mary and Martha and Jesus wept too (John 11:35).
Yes! You have a God who shed tears when you shed tears. When you face troubles and pain in life, you end up murmuring against God. But, I want to remind you that God too is distressed when you are going through painful situation ( Isaiah 63:9). Even our Lord Jesus, had to walk through the valley of tears and cried out to the one who alone could save Him (Hebrews 5:7).

On May 21, 1986, I lost my beloved daughter who was just 17 years old; in a tragic car accident. My meeting was scheduled, where I had to share the word of God and it was a day soon after this incident happened. Anyhow, I prepared the message and as I was about to leave for the meeting, I heard a voice saying, “ Stella, what are you going to preach there? Are you able to preach that God is a God of miracles? You have just lost your daughter, will you be able to say out loud that God is good? I knew it was the saying of the devil. I was very much in pain and the Holy Spirit told me, “Go with confidence, I will grant you the necessary strength to preach”. With God-given strength I stood before the crowd, but I dreaded that if I break down, the people will be disappointed. Yet God gave me the courage to share His mighty word. Soon, after the meeting got over, a sister from the crowd just ran up to me and told me that she too had lost her child, because of which she wanted to discontinue to serve the Lord. But, after the message she felt comforted and felt that God has given her the confidence to do His ministry

My dear beloved, cling to the Lord and listen to His voice and He will be your life and grant you a long life (Deuteronomy 11:22; 30:20). Our Lord is a loving God, just as He didn’t forsake Mary and Martha and raised their brother from the dead nearly after 4 days (John 11: 39-44). Likewise, He will never leave you; He will grant you peace and happiness in life. He will build your family and will turn your sorrows into joy.