I think most people would agree that it is during our worst trials that bring us closer to the Lord. No one welcomes loss, but unfortunately, we are all forced to face it at some point.
There is only one thing that can truly comfort us during our suffering. The world will tell us there are many ways to make us feel better. Some of them might work for a temporary period of time but there is only One that is truly able to comfort us, help us, and eventually help us move through our grief and get us to the other side.
It is in our deepest suffering that we have nowhere else to go and we cry out in desperation for His help. When we learn this deep dependence on God hopefully it will stay with us once life resumes to normal. God can get us through the toughest of times if we ask and learn to look to Him for help and comfort.
Corrie Tin Boom comes to mind when you look at someone who experienced massive loss. She went through horrible hardship in a concentration camp during WWII. She lost family members and barely got out alive.
God not only healed her multitude of wounds, but she went on to help others who were tormented from the war. She eventually had to forgive and shake hands with a man who was a guard at one of her concentration camps.
If God can heal her wounds and use them for good, He can do the same in our lives. Her great suffering taught her relentless dependence on God which she took with her the rest of her life.
While we don’t relish tough times, sometimes it takes these unfortunate situations to truly put our faith in Him.
The way we grieve has changed a lot since Biblical times.
In the Old Testament, people grieved for months wearing a specific attire so everyone around them could identify that they were grieving. The Bible tells us when Jacob died, “the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days” (Genesis 50:3).
Nowadays, you might wear black on the day of the funeral but after that, you walk around in normal clothes and the people you encounter have no idea the loss you are feeling inside.
The lessons we learn from grief can be hard ones. Author and speaker Bob Goff quotes, “What brings us to tears, will lead us to grace. Our pain is never wasted.”
Grief can teach us quite a bit about our own emotions, how to relate to others, when to accept help, and reminds us of the big picture. Most importantly, we can learn to further trust in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Matthew 28: 20 says, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Jesus is with us through everything. He will teach us what we need to learn from grief and any other trial we encounter. May our grief not be wasted.
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