Grieving

Description

Nothing hurts like losing someone you love due to death, divorce, or separation. Similar feelings often surface after a major life change such as job loss or a move. The ache inside can feel as if your soul will crush under the weight of a deep, paralyzing sorrow. You may find yourself asking how a loving God could allow such a painful thing to happen. The dull sadness often bleeds into denial or anger. Grief is unpredictable, affecting each of us in slightly different ways. While it may not ease the pain, understanding that grief is normal can help us cope a little better when we lose a special person or go through a significant change.

If you feel like you are losing your grip on reality, you might be a perfectly sane person enduring the confusion of grief. Perhaps you suffer irrational fear, dread or even paranoia. You may feel empty or numb like you are in shock. In short, grief makes us feel like our emotions have gone haywire because, in many ways, they have. Over time, however, you will regain a measure of equilibrium.

God gave us the gift of pain so that we can react when something goes wrong. The severity and length of your pain is a testimony to the value of the person lost or the importance of the situation that changed. God made us for intimacy and life – not separation and death. Ever since the day mankind left the perfection of paradise we have known something is wrong. Our bodies and emotions react against what should not be.

Even though it may not feel like it, grief can be a source of great hope. Loss can open us to ultimate wholeness and restoration. As believers, we know that a much better day is coming when God himself will wipe every tear from our eyes.