Sermon Illustrations
Being the Comforter
One of our missionary kids was at boarding school, far away from her parents. She was a fifth grader, Heidi by name. And she wrote home to her parents:
"My two first-grade roommates are fine. They gave me the biggest bear hug tonight. But I will explain one of my very hard nights. I'm homesick, Mom. I was woken up by loud laughing. Julie was laughing really hard; she'd flooded the bed. Aunt Janice changed the sheets. I'd just gone to sleep when Esther woke me up.
"She was homesick. I got her to sleep finally. Then Julie woke me up, homesick, and I got her to sleep. And drifting off, I heard Julie crying again. She'd thrown up, and Aunt Janice was asleep, so I woke her up, and she had to turn on the light and change the sheets. I finally got to sleep.
"Last night somebody woke me up so homesick that I crept into bed, and we held each other. Even though it's a pain sometimes, I like to be known as the comforter."
Little Heidi, fifth grader, sang that little girl to sleep. She sang her a song because she knows what it is in fifth grade to wait on the Lord. The great music maker, who can give us a song to sing and the power and the will and the joy to sing it.