Let nothing you dismay - be comforted

This week's Bible Lesson on Spirit includes Isaiah 51:3 and I've been working with it every day.
"For the Lord shall comfort Zion: He will comfort all her waste places; and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody."


What a promise! God will comfort us. The dictionary defines comfort as to sooth in times of affliction or distress, to ease physically, relieve. God will do all that for us.

He will sooth us when we feel that we are trapped in waste places. Do you ever feel that all your best efforts are wasted, that it is a waste of time to make changes, that all your efforts have been wasted? Right then and right there God is with you to comfort you.

He will make your wilderness as beautiful as Eden. In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy defines wilderness as loneliness; doubt; darkness. She continues with another view of a wilderness experience, 'the vestibule in which a material sense of things disappears, and the spiritual sense unfolds the great facts of existence'. (S&H 597) Since God is good, and He fills all space, we are never alone, or doubtful, or in darkness. We are always in the presence of divine Love, illuminating any situation with the light of Truth. The truth at good is always present and operating on our behalf. We choose which view of wilderness we believe. Jesus often chose to go apart for time in prayer and communion with God, to learn more about his relationship to Him as His very image and likeness. Jesus was then able to behold 'the perfect man' and this correct understanding healed.

Maybe it is more of a desert experience, devoid of all color and freshness, with no signs of growth. Perhaps you have prayed long and hard and some problem is not yielding, the healing has not taken place. You might be feeling like your inspiration has just dried up, your supply has evaporated, your sense of your real spiritual identity lost. That is not what God is telling you about Himself or yourself as His beloved and unique child.

God, Love, comforts, guards, and guides. Comfort can also mean console, calm, soften, lighten one's burdens, encourage, brighten one's outlook.

You find you are not trapped in a wasted life or relationship or career. You are not lost and alone.
Your life is not empty. Not at all. It is filled with angel messages assuring you of God's love, protection and supply.
all the wonderful things you are being given and all the wonderful things you have to give. Let this reality, the radiant reality of your true being, fill you with joy and gladness. For it is a gift, not something you have to earn, from a loving Father Mother. Listen quietly and expectantly and you will hear the melody of your life. Be comforted.