UNDERSTANDING YOUR GRIEF!

Updated: Nov 12, 2024

Today’s Message of Encouragement from Discovering A BETTER LIFE MINISTRIES

(Stories of Real People, Real Events, Real Places) It is dedicated to HELPING Men and Women Find HOPE

THROUGH SHARING GOD’S GRACE and LOVE

(November, 2024)

UNDERSTANDING YOUR GRIEF!

Friend, these words come straight from my heart to yours. “Grieving is universal but also so personal and individual.” And from experience, I have discovered there are no easy answers to the numerous questions each of us might ask in times of grief. However, what I’ve written for you today isn’t a prescription, my goal is simply to use these words to enter your heart for a while and share your loss.

The death of those we love is always devastating and we have many different emotions at times like this and it’s natural to feel and express them It’s as though a part of us has also died and we may wonder if the sense of pain and loss will ever stop – and whether anyone understands.

However, dear friend, when you grieve it matters because, in reality, no other human knows the deep ache you are experiencing when you lose your loved one. Their unique preciousness to you is beyond words, and now they are gone.

In most cases, each person who loves you will try to say the right words, and you know they would give anything if they knew what would console you. But deep in your heart you know they can’t console you because they don’t know what you feel and what you need. Sometimes, you’re not sure yourself what you need—you only know that you want the one whom you have lost.

Perhaps time will help, but you certainly don’t think so right now—and this gives you little comfort for your present pain. And sometimes it seems like your world has turned upside down. Sometimes the silence in the house is almost devastating, but you know that creating noise is not the answer. Sometimes friends may tell you that you must eat properly. Intellectually you know that, but you simply aren’t interested in food.

Some of your friends may tell you, “Get proper rest now,” but even when you try, sleep doesn’t come easily. It is then you might even feel like shouting, "Doesn’t anyone know that my grief is my fatigue, and sleeping doesn’t relieve it?” This change, this loss, this death hurts. You resent it and you feel that you’re powerless to stop the pain. You feel angry and sometimes, you feel just numb.

Perhaps, in your grief, you’ve never wanted to pray, and you start, but then tears come. You may even feel like crying out to God, “Oh, God, I’m so alone. I miss him/her so very much! Why didn’t I go first? Why them, Lord? Why now?” But then you catch yourself thinking, “Maybe I’m blaming God.”

However dear friend, in our isolation and loneliness, God reveals He is with us and says: “Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is WITH YOU, WHEREVER YOU GO” (Joshua 1:9).

We are also assured by our loving Heavenly Father, that in our fear and doubt, whether we journey slowly or quickly through our grief, He holds us and brings His words of comfort to us, just as He said through the prophet Isaiah, “I am HOLDING YOU by your right hand—I, the Lord your God. And I say to you, ‘Do not be afraid, I am here to help you’” (Isaiah 41:13).

However, friend, even as I endeavour to share these words of comfort with you, you may still have some nagging questions as you struggle with your sorrow. If you would like to talk about how you hurt and what is troubling you most concerning your loss of a loved one, we’d like to hear from you. We need the comfort of God most of all, but we also need each other!

Friend, if you are grieving the loss of a loved one, we encourage you to write to Discovering A BETTER LIFE for your Complimentary copy of a booklet titled “Does He Cry with Me?” Our Mailing Address is Discovering A BETTER LIFE, BETHANIE ON THE PARK, Apartment 49/2 Plantation Street, Western Australia 6050