HOW DO WE
HEAL?
Grief is a powerful emotion. It is
experienced, expressed, or suffered in one form or another by most
of the animal kingdom; Humans especially. Elephants process their
grief through internal programming given them by God. By this
programming, the huge beasts truly mourn over the death of one of
their own, sometimes for days or even weeks. They also say that an
elephant never forgets!
The anguish is expressed and shared
among them in a familial way. The fact that the elephant cannot
process or reason WHY the death occurred, the pain of loss they
experience is no less deep and powerful.
Grief appears translated in our Bible
through 20 different Hebrew words. Words that are a wide swath of
meaning in their contexts ranging from being disappointed to wishing
for death as results of events or losses.
The
less frequency in the New Testament of words denoting “grief” is
significant. Christ came “to comfort all that mourn - to give a
garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness.” Christians, however, cannot but feel
sorrow and be moved by grief, and it is to be noted that in both the
Old Testament and New Testament, God Himself is said to be
susceptible to grief. [International
Standard Bible Encyclopedia, ISBE]
Why
do we grieve so deeply? Why does it hurt so much? Why does it seem
as though the grief will never end? One word; LOVE.
Grief
of loss comes out of love: [2Co
2:4] For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you
with many tears; not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that
you might know the love which I have especially for you.
The
great healing anesthetic for the pain of grief is to allow yourself
to grieve. In that process of grieving, there are no set rules, no
time limits, no easy answers or shortcuts. Grieving reduces grief.
In
my opinion, grief never truly leaves us. It just becomes more
bearable.
A
friend once told me that {You never really get over the loss, but
through prayer and faith in Jesus, you begin to see the potholes in
the road ahead and learn to steer around them}
The
power of grief creates a firestorm of emotion. Physically painful, in
some cases debilitating. A fire storm erupts inside you, you can't
sleep. Smells, sounds, foods all trigger memories and it seems the
fire never dies down.
This
is grief. By giving yourself permission to truly grieve the loss, to
cry, to remember, to cherish, to wish it could be changed back to the
way it was before, all of these are components to that flame.
In
time, in grieving, eventually the towering blaze of grief will be
reduced smaller and smaller. Some say to about the size of a small
glowing ember. An ember that can be safely placed into the archive of
your heart where it shall reside for the balance of your days.
We
all have our own personal internal clock that tells us when we need
to move ahead in our grief. Listen to that clock (The Holy Spirit).
This grief that you suffer is personal. It is unique to the person
being grieved.
As
you grieve, you will find your way. Listen to the Holy Spirit, pray,
place one foot in front of the other and trust in Him.
This
is how we heal.
HAVE
YOU READ YOUR BIBLE TODAY?
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