Comfort choices. With so many comfort choices before you, what will you choose and why?

When I miss my late mother, I might make popcorn the old-fashioned way on the stove. Mom used to make popcorn in the evening, and we would play Scrabble®. I miss Mom and that tradition. My bowl of popcorn is a temporary fix. It won’t bring Mom back.

You’ll find me in a Chinese restaurant on my late son’s birthday. He preferred Chinese food over any other kind and wanted to eat at a specific Chinese restaurant every Sunday. When I eat there with a friend on his birthday, I feel close to my son, but that comfort choice doesn’t last.

Perhaps you’ve also chosen certain foods to bring you comfort. You may or may not look at your comfort choices as a temporary fix. However, those foods don’t fill the emptiness in your life or end the grieving process.

Years ago, a friend of mine took a vacation out-of-state. Her marriage had deteriorated, and she hoped a vacation would relieve her sadness and stress. She enjoyed her vacation. However, she returned to the same circumstances she left.

Your comfort choice might be sprawling on the couch in front of the TV to watch endless hours of whatever is on. It might be withdrawal to a comfortable chair or to your bedroom with a cup of coffee or tea. Isolation doesn’t work either. God made us social beings, and as Christians we are part of the Body of Christ.

When I worked full-time as a professional counselor, I encountered clients who turned to alcohol or other drugs as comfort choices. They attempted to forget their childhood of abuse, neglect, or abandonment. When they were clean and sober, they remembered their pain. They added legal problems to their grief.

So what option is left? One way exists to fill that empty hole in your heart. Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” The closer I draw to God, the closer he draws to me. The more I seek him through Bible study alone and with others, through prayer alone and with others, and through praise and worship music at home and at church, the more I realize God is healing my grief.

Jeremiah 29:13: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Prayer: God, I’ve tried food, shopping, and isolation. Those things didn’t comfort me. Help me look to you for lasting benefits. Amen.

Copyright © by Yvonne Ortega VI.IV.MMXVIII

Related posts:

https://www.yvonneortega.com/overcome-with-grief-what-do-you-do/

wwwyvonneortega.com/who-hears-your-cries-when-you-long-for-comfort/