"What we have once enjoyed, we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes part of us." ~ Helen Keller
💔 Grief. Such a huge part of our life, sometimes seeming like it cycles around unexpectedly with no warning at all.
It can feel like the wind got knocked out of us and we can't breathe. It can feel like we're drowning and don't have the strength to reach out to grab someone's hand. And it can some days feel like the hole in our heart is swallowing us. Why is the world continuing to go on when such a loss occurred?
💔 No one understands grief like our Father in Heaven. When we are saddened with no words and no will, we can just sit at the feet of our Father and mourn. He doesn't need our description of our pain; He understands. He lost His one and only Son. He endured death so we could spend eternal life with Him in heaven because we believe He died for our sins. Beauty from ashes.
The Creation, Michelangelo
"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze." Isaiah 43:2
💔 God is so good He uses our pain, suffering and loss of this broken world, enabling it to transform us as He carries us through it. As adversity, pain and loss come down on us, He says, "this is the way, walk in it, when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left." Isaiah 30.
As we stumble our way through the pain, "the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit." Ps 34:18
When we trust and know that our Lord never leaves us, believe the apostle Peter when he tells us "after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you." 1 Peter 5:10
💔 Grief hurts. If it is us going through it, we don't know how people can comfort us. If someone we care about is grieving, we don't know how to comfort them.
As God is "the Father of mercies and the 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." 2 Cor 1:3-4
I think it's important to know that people we love were loved by others. I still am comforted by people remembering my father and being kind enough to mention it to me, 24 years later.
💔 Lives mean something. God places value on our lives, so much He sent His only Son to die for us so we can live with Him eternally, and He wants us to find value in them as well.
✙ Heavenly Father, only You understand fully the grief of losing a loved one here on earth. You never ask us to endure what You have not, and You promise to give us strength to do it. Help us to comfort others in the love with which You comfort us. Thank You for giving us the emotion of love so we can experience the fullness of life. We look forward to heaven, where there are no more tears, but joy unspeakable. Amen.
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