God Comforts the Troubled and Downcast

“Blessed be the God and Father or our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort, too. -2 Corinthians 1:3-5. ESV [Read 2 Corinthians 1]

The overriding theme of 2 Corinthians chapter 1 is God’s comfort. Because a person is a Christian does not assure that he will not suffer afflictions and troubles; and yes, even at times, as was Paul the Apostles and fellow evangelists with him, they were persecuted because of their stand for the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul, who had been one of the Jewish Pharisees before he was converted as he was on the Road to Damascus to persecute Christians, found that his own Jewish brethren wanted him captured and silenced because they did not like him preaching “the new doctrine” about Christ Jesus, Savior, Lord, Redeemer.

Paul pleaded Roman citizenship and was sent to Rome to appear before the emperor there in defense of his faith. Even the journey by ship to Rome brought dangers and Paul almost lost his life as he wrote in 2 Corinthians 1: 8-11: “ For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the difficulty we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.” In reference to Paul’s danger of being killed, please refer to Acts 9:23-27 to see how the Jews reacted, soon after Saul’s (Paul’s) conversion in Damascus, “the Jews took counsel to kill him.” They did not like Paul standing for and preaching about Jesus, whose death by hanging the Jews had managed to get the Roman government in Jerusalem to do.

But our God is a “God of mercies and all comfort.” And He has promised, that even with our sorrows and afflictions, He will not burden us beyond what we can bear. He is and will be with us in our trials. David praised God for rescuing him from enemies. God’s comfort is the theme of Psalm 56 that ends with this prayer of gratitude for God’s comfort and blessings: “Your vows are upon me, O God; I will render praise to You and give You thank offerings. For You have delivered my life from death, yes, and my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life and of the living.” -Psalm 56:12-13 (The Amplified Bible).

Lord, I repeat reverently and pray Psalm 56, verses 12 and 13 as my prayer for comfort today. In Jesus’ name. Amen. -Ethelene Dyer Jones. April 29, 2018

If You Should Go and I Remain (On Death and Dying)

“That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His suffering, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” -Philippians 3:10-11 (ESV)

If you should go and I remain

To walk life’s road alone,

I know my heart will break with pain,

Deny that you are gone.

Despair will cover like a shroud,

The days pass slowly on;

Each task be covered with a cloud

That drips the message “Gone!”

What hope will dawn amidst my tears?

Can peace abide again?

What antidote to conquer fears?

What balm to ease the pain?

Then Spirit’s clear, calm voice I hear:

“Behold! Christ walks with you;

His presence is so very near,

Your strength He will renew!”

You have gone on and I remain,

But daily at my side

The Lord who knows my heart-felt pain

Is here to guard and guide.

He gives me peace, abundant life;

He offers hope and grace.

He, as one who knew deep strife,

Will help me daily face

The vacancy, the lonely night,

The yearnings that I feel;

For in God’s goodness He makes right

And helps the heart to heal.

Now you stand whole at heaven’s gate

Anticipating glad reunion day;

And I with patient hope await

To join you in that way.

Faith now moves in, a bulwark sure,

To assuage this present grief;

And with God’s grace I can endure

Through earthly life so brief.

Through tears God’s name I praise;

I share His love abounding,

For every burden He will raise:

He gives victory resounding.

Forward now to Heaven’s shore

I press each single day,

Anticipating even more

God’s guidance all the way.

You have gone on and I remain,

But my heart surely feels

That all the memories I retain

Sustains me, lifts me, heals.

-Ethelene Dyer Jones

January 10; 2011; revised January 30, 2011

I began composing this poem January 10, 2011 when my husband, the Rev. Grover Duffie Jones, a patient in Georgia War Veteran’s Home in Milledgeville, GA at the time, was very low physically and I had engaged Hospice Nurses to help with his care. He passed this life January 26, 2011 after having struggled with Alzheimer’s disease for 18 years—a long time to suffer from that debilitating disease. Following his “Celebration of Life” service on January 28, 2011, I worked some more on the poem I had begun, and on January 30, 2011, I finished the poem in its present form as a testimony of how God helped me deal with the severe illness and death of a beloved mate. Writing the poem helped me through hard days of his final care, as well as giving me Biblical perspective on death, dying, and grief of a loved one.

I thought the death of my husband might be the hardest to accept and recover from the grief of anyone else extremely close to me in relationship until I, too, passed beyond this vale of earth. But in 2017, I experienced the death of a very dear friend, Mr. Wilbur Dalton Smith, on February 13, 1017. During the remainder of that year, I had a first cousin and a “double-first” cousin to die; both had been very close to me in relationship. Then my beloved son, at age 65, died suddenly with a heart attack on November 16, 2017. Shocked and so saddened, I could hardly believe what I was hearing when I got the message of his death. I had never dreamed that one of my two children would precede me in death. Isn’t a mother supposed to die first in the age-order of reckoning? I miss both husband and son since their deaths. But I had expected my husband’s death after a long, lingering, worsening illness. I miss my son terribly. I thought he would out-live me. Not so in God’s order of taking Keith at age 65. The parting was so difficult; God’s grace has been abounding to help me through grief.

Then, two weeks to the day after my son Keith died, my sister, Linda Lou Dyer Fortenberry died with cancer. Her death date was November 30, 2017. Five deaths in 2017 of persons close to me left me feeling bereft. I returned again to the poem of 2011: “If You Should Go and I Remain.”

And 2018 has brought death to three more close and dear to me: Another “double-first” cousin, India Inez Dyer Lumsden died March 1, 2018. Two other “first cousins twice-removed” as we say in genealogy reckoning: Former Georgia Governor and US Senator Zell Bryan Miller died March 23, 2018. U. S. Marine Corps retired Master Sergeant Eric England died April 7, 2018. And my beloved niece, Annie Faye Dyer Graham died April 8, 2018. As I write this, I have just returned from Faye’s “Celebration of Life” Memorial Service today (April 14, in Atlanta). Now you don’t have to wonder why I return to a poem written in 2011: “If You Should Go and I Remain.” Grief and departure, death and dying, we must face and learn to deal with. And the Bible gives much comfort in many places in Scripture. God give us the grace to live through grief and rejoice again that our beloved fellow believers now know the glories of heaven. We can join them there if we repent of sins, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, accept His pardon and grace, and seek to live for Him in whatever life remains for us on earth. Selah! -Ethelene Dyer Jones. 04.15.2018.

If You Should Go and I Remain (On Death and Dying)

“That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His suffering, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” -Philippians 3:10-11 (ESV)

If you should go and I remain

To walk life’s road alone,

I know my heart will break with pain,

Deny that you are gone.

Despair will cover like a shroud,

The days pass slowly on;

Each task be covered with a cloud

That drips the message “Gone!”

What hope will dawn amidst my tears?

Can peace abide again?

What antidote to conquer fears?

What balm to ease the pain?

Then Spirit’s clear, calm voice I hear:

“Behold! Christ walks with you;

His presence is so very near,

Your strength He will renew!”

You have gone on and I remain,

But daily at my side

The Lord who knows my heart-felt pain

Is here to guard and guide.

He gives me peace, abundant life;

He offers hope and grace.

He, as one who knew deep strife,

Will help me daily face

The vacancy, the lonely night,

The yearnings that I feel;

For in God’s goodness He makes right

And helps the heart to heal.

Now you stand whole at heaven’s gate

Anticipating glad reunion day;

And I with patient hope await

To join you in that way.

Faith now moves in, a bulwark sure,

To assuage this present grief;

And with God’s grace I can endure

Through earthly life so brief.

Through tears God’s name I praise;

I share His love abounding,

For every burden He will raise:

He gives victory resounding.

Forward now to Heaven’s shore

I press each single day,

Anticipating even more

God’s guidance all the way.

You have gone on and I remain,

But my heart surely feels

That all the memories I retain

Sustains me, lifts me, heals.

-Ethelene Dyer Jones

January 10; 2011; revised January 30, 2011

I began composing this poem January 10, 2011 when my husband, the Rev. Grover Duffie Jones, a patient in Georgia War Veteran’s Home in Milledgeville, GA at the time, was very low physically and I had engaged Hospice Nurses to help with his care. He passed this life January 26, 2011 after having struggled with Alzheimer’s disease for 18 years—a long time to suffer from that debilitating disease. Following his “Celebration of Life” service on January 28, 2011, I worked some more on the poem I had begun, and on January 30, 2011, I finished the poem in its present form as a testimony of how God helped me deal with the severe illness and death of a beloved mate. Writing the poem helped me through hard days of his final care, as well as giving me Biblical perspective on death, dying, and grief of a loved one.

I thought the death of my husband might be the hardest to accept and recover from the grief of anyone else extremely close to me in relationship until I, too, passed beyond this vale of earth. But in 2017, I experienced the death of a very dear friend, Mr. Wilbur Dalton Smith, on February 13, 2017.   During the remainder of that year, I had a first cousin and a “double-first” cousin to die; both had been very close to me in relationship. Then my beloved son, at age 65, died suddenly with a heart attack on November 16, 2017. Shocked and so saddened, I could hardly believe what I was hearing when I got the message of his death. I had never dreamed that one of my two children would precede me in death. Isn’t a mother supposed to die first in the age-order of reckoning? I miss both husband and son since their deaths. But I had expected my husband’s death after a long, lingering, worsening illness. I miss my son terribly. I thought he would out-live me. Not so in God’s order of taking Keith at age 65. The parting was so difficult; God’s grace has been abounding to help me through grief.

Then, two weeks to the day after my son Keith died, my sister, Linda Lou Dyer Fortenberry died with cancer. Her death date was November 30, 2017. Five deaths in 2017 of persons close to me left me feeling bereft. I returned again to the poem of 2011: “If You Should Go and I Remain.”

And 2018 has brought death to three more close and dear to me: Another “double-first” cousin, India Inez Dyer Lumsden died March 1, 2018. Two other “first cousins twice-removed” as we say in genealogy reckoning: Former Georgia Governor and US Senator Zell Bryan Miller died March 23, 2018. U. S. Marine Corps retired Master Sergeant Eric England died April 7, 2018. And my beloved niece, Annie Faye Dyer Graham died April 8, 2018. As I write this, I have just returned from Faye’s “Celebration of Life” Memorial Service today (April 14, in Atlanta). Now you don’t have to wonder why I return to a poem written in 2011: “If You Should Go and I Remain.” Grief and departure, death and dying, we must face and learn to deal with. And the Bible gives much comfort in many places in Scripture. God give us the grace to live through grief and rejoice again that our beloved fellow believers now know the glories of heaven. We can join them there if we repent of sins, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, accept His pardon and grace, and seek to live for Him in whatever life remains for us on earth. Selah! -Ethelene Dyer Jones. 04.15.2018.

As Mary Magdalene in the Garden

“Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him’…But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb….Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni’! (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father to my God and your God.’ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’—and that he said these things to her.” -John 20:12; 11, 14-18. ESV (Read John 20)

As Mary Magdalene in the Garden

Mary Magdalene went early

Before the dawning light

Had spread abroad the sunshine

To give the darkness light.

Sadness filled her heart,

For lo, her Lord was dead.

He who had promised life and hope

Had died with thorn-crowned head.

Frightened was she when she saw

The sepulcher’s stone awry;

Who had taken the Lord’s body?

Was it not enough for Him to die?

To Peter and the other disciples

She ran, in tears, and said:

“They have taken away His body;

Wherever could He be laid?”

Peter and another went to find

That Mary’s word was true.

No longer did the grave hold Him;

Only burial clothes there to view.

The disciples left and went home,

But Mary lingered there;

Weeping in the dark garden,

And mourning for the Lord so fair.

Then a voice said, “Mary!”

And when He spoke she knew

It was her Lord triumphant!

“Rabboni!” she said, “This is you!”

“I have a message for you to bear:

Tell the disciples I now live!

As I told them when I taught,

This message of life you must give!”

Mary in the garden was afraid

When lingering shades of night

Still surrounded the tomb;

But then what a glorious Light!

The very Son of God arose

Victorious over the grave;

And to Mary Magdalene His servant,

The glorious message He gave.

She went telling the disciples:

“I have seen the Lord!”

He lives, He conquered death,

We have this Word

To tell others that death

No longer over us reigns;

But Christ the Lord is risen,

Now my soul forever sings!

As Mary in the garden,

We need not fear shades of night,

Knowing that Life awaits us

In His marvelous, life-changing Light.

-Ethelene Dyer Jones

I wrote this poem March 23, 2005 for Easter, 2005. I brought the poem out of my file and am sharing it again Easter, 2018. May reading it bless you as I was inspired and blessed to write and now to share it. To God be the glory! And deepest gratitude to Jesus Christ, who made our facing death a passage through the “Valley of the Shadow of Death” to our own victorious resurrection. Thank you, God, for our friends, family members who are enjoying this year their “First Resurrection Sunday in Heaven!” May we know on earth a “foretaste” of the glory to come when we, too, join that happy throng in Heaven! Amen and Amen! 04.01.2018.