Today’s Faithful Friday hits hard today:
“Grief : The Tear Stained Page”
My dad passed away on December 21, 2023 . Since then the Lord has been reminding me that God the Father is a Father to the fatherless. I am very blessed to have a stepfather who treats me as his own child. For that I am so grateful and thankful. At the same time the Lord has been reminding me of His Kingship as well. Yesterday afternoon the grief hit again. In the last 1-2 years, grief has rocked my friendships and relationships with close people. It’s been a hard season. Wounds of grief opening and closing and reopening… I am very blessed to have great friends and family, but with the losses over the last 1-2 years, I feel like 1/2 of my encouragement is gone . They stepped into eternity with Jesus, first a dear best friend and now my dad… It’s a loss when those who spent their days encouraging, are no longer there. So I as I sat with my journal open yesterday, and struggling to read my Bible. There was a grief that was hard to express as the tears fell on the page. What now?
Sometimes I share things to get off my chest, and so my mind doesn’t go into depression mode where the devil can get a foothold in my life.
“The Grief Limp” written November 17, 2022
Sometimes it’s expected. Other times it’s sudden. It doesn’t matter how it happens, grief is still a wound to our souls. Acquaintances die and sometimes it can be like a stubbed toe. It hurts, but soon is forgotten until the next time you hit that particular spot again. In the case of grief, until those memories are visited again.
Other deaths feel like your healing from a dramatic and life-changing injury. You heal, but are never the same again. You have to adapt to their absence. No more texts, no more face to face conversations. It can feel like your limping through life. No to say , you no longer enjoy life , but with each passing, there is one less person to talk to. “My Grace is sufficient for you. My Power is made perfect in weakness,” the Lord says.
Isn’t it interesting that after a life changing moment with the Lord, Jacob now Israel, walked with a limp. A staff became his help until his old age. Jacob’s final blessings were said to family as he leaned upon his staff.
Do we have a “grief limp?” A grief that changes us forever, that we must learn to live with, as we live out our days. “I will not leave you as orphans or comfortless” some translations of Jesus’ words say to His disciples. As our circle of friends and family grow smaller as they step into eternity, who shall we reach out to?
We may have a “grief limp”, but we have a strong support. Lean on Jesus and let the Holy Spirit be the Comforter.
Maybe the grief is too raw just to handle with adult thinking. Maybe the sobs are the words and your tears the S.O.S or the cry of Help running down your cheeks. Let your Heavenly Father “hold” you as you weep, even if you fall asleep physically. Rest knowing He sees and cares as each tear falls.
Hang onto this Truth as you limp along your journey, like a staff firmly in hand, the limp won’t last forever. You shall be healed and whole as you look upon your Savior and Lord’s Face. Friendships we had will be restored. This Hope is not a blanket Hope that all will receive. Sadly some relationships will be forever severed as those who never trusted Jesus as Savior and Lord will forever be separated from those who did. A great chasm or divide that can never be mended or crossed. Sadly it’s not up to us , whether a person decides to spend eternity in the opposite destination from us. But if we truly love someone, would we not plead and take every opportunity to tell our loved ones the Truth? Not everyone goes to Heaven, and it’s our responsibility to speak up before it’s too late.
Even the heart of God is grieved by a perishing soul….
For the believer in Christ, the “grief limp” is temporary. For the non-believer the “grief limp” is eternal and unbearable, not only because of loss seeing of loved ones, but the grief of never knowing the Joy of being in the Presence of God whom you were created by and for. Jesus bears the permanent scars of Heaven, so your scars and pain don’t have to be forever. Choose Life! Choose wholeness! Let the Lord be your rod of support in your life journey until you get Home , forever in God the Father and Jesus’ Presence. In the arms of the One who loves you more than any person who you are grieving over. It’s okay to grieve, it’s a part of the process, but in Christ there is Hope of Eternal Life on the new earth as the former things pass away.
John 17:3
This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
Revelation 21:1-5
1 I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more. 2 I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. 3 I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people; and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more. The first things have passed away.”
5 He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”He said, “Write, for these words of God are faithful and true.”
December 11, 2022
The Highway of Grief
It’s dark and rainy as the headlights of cars pass by. You are going one direction while others travel in the opposite direction. The rain pours like tears from your eyes as everything becomes a blur. God promised comfort your broken heart as you travel. The beams of light only reveal the next few feet ahead. The brightness of another’s beams become too bright as they shine telling you how to grieve. It’s too much, as you pull off to the side of the road. You dart into in the nearby woods , “God I need more light. Show me how to handle the path ahead.” Between tears and blurred vision you fall gashing your knee against a stone. With God’s help , you limp back to the car. The Healer at your side , but the wound and pain keeps reopening. This time His Way is not ours, as we seek to heal where only a scar remains. Constantly depending on God’s daily provision and care to get us through.
Back on the Highway of Grief, everyone on earth is there. Some of the wounded only have scrapes and bruises and pass you on the road. Others get to a part of the road where the rain of tears stop for a while. They are joyful as the clouds part and God gives them a rainbow in His Promises of a future comfort and wholeness.
The grieving one looks up as those clouds of grief part, in their mind, imagining their loved ones at peace on the banks of the River of Life with Jesus in eternity.
Soon the open beautiful sky closes and the rain falls again as the tears well up again. When shall this rain pass? When shall the Highway of Grief end? Only , but God knows, but He never asks us to walk or drive alone. When we stop being the driver and navigator, and allow God to be in control, He is the One in control as we follow His Way.
My greatest fear on this Highway of Grief isn’t reaching the end, for it shall we a welcome end as I reach the destination of eternity, but the fear of false comfort. The comfort where we can’t imagine our loved ones anywhere , but Heaven even if they rejected God on earth or worse kept their beliefs to themselves only for us to speculate or assume their destination.
Shall we find those we love on the river banks of Life , or shall God have to wipe those tears away as we face the nightmarish reality that we are eternally separated, and the closest to Heaven our loved one experienced was our violent and sin cursed world? Rest In Peace, never was experienced because they rejected the Prince of Peace, the ultimate Peace with God that Jesus restored for everyone who trusted Him as Savior and Lord.
Shall those who remain, experiencing the Highway of Grief, stay silent about what we believe about Christ? Will our loved ones Hope in vain, because they didn’t know if you chose turn from sin to be in God’s Family as His adopted child? Being God’s Creation and His Child are two different things, not one in the same. Will your journey of grief on this Highway end in peace or shall it give way to greater eternal turmoil? The Highway of Grief on this earth shall end, but it’s our decision whether it gives way to deeper and eternal regrets and unrest or an eternal peace in the safety of Jesus’ arms and our Heavenly Father’s loving presence.
Matthew 7:13-14
13 “Enter in by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter in by it. 14 How† narrow is the gate and the way is restricted that leads to life! There are few who find it.
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This morning January 12, 2024 I thought of the grief . Why should we express our thoughts and feelings honestly, even when we are angry or grieving. I mean God already knows right? What’s the point ?
When we are honest with the Lord, we are acknowledging our need for Him. When grief comes in waves, when we turn to God, He covers you in the storm. We are not guaranteed that no water will not hit us , so to speak , but we will be protected and it won’t overwhelm us dangerously. Sometimes the grief is like that amputation, never the same , and we must rely on God to be our strength.
I read 2 Samuel chapter 9 and wondered why it came to mind:
1 David said, “Is there yet any who is left of Saul’s house, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” 2 There was of Saul’s house a servant whose name was Ziba, and they called him to David; and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?”
He said, “I am your servant.”
3 The king said, “Is there not yet any of Saul’s house, that I may show the kindness of God to him?”
Ziba said to the king, “Jonathan still has a son, who is lame in his feet.”
4 The king said to him, “Where is he?”
Ziba said to the king, “Behold, he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lo Debar.”
5 Then King David sent and brought him out of the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo Debar. 6 Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, fell on his face, and showed respect. David said, “Mephibosheth?”
He answered, “Behold, your servant!”
7 David said to him, “Don’t be afraid, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your father. You will eat bread at my table continually.”
8 He bowed down, and said, “What is your servant, that you should look at such a dead dog as I am?”
9 Then the king called to Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, “All that belonged to Saul and to all his house I have given to your master’s son. 10 Till the land for him—you, your sons, and your servants. Bring in the harvest, that your master’s son may have bread to eat; but Mephibosheth your master’s son will always eat bread at my table.”
Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. 11 Then Ziba said to the king, “According to all that my lord the king commands his servant, so your servant will do.” So Mephibosheth ate at the king’s table like one of the king’s sons.12 Mephibosheth had a young son, whose name was Mica. All who lived in Ziba’s house were servants to Mephibosheth. 13 So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king’s table. He was lame in both his feet.
King David wanted to show kindness to Jonathan’s son. He made sure that his best friend’s son was taken care of. In the same way, our King of kings , our God , and Lord of lords, will take care of us with His Provision. God will be our comfort and encouragement in our loss.
Another reminder of why it's important to turn to the Lord :
April 3, 2023
Burdens (fictional story to explain the point: not meant to be anyone personally)
I was reminded of imagery that the Lord brought to my mind on February 18th, 2022.
It was the image of Jesus holding my hands and praying with me, as boulders of weight were lifted. We can be honest in our prayers , because He already knows what weighs heavy on our hearts.
As I dwelled on this thought, I learned even more.
Think about two men walking together. One man’s name is John and the other is Joel . They are walking side by side. Joel has a heavy load on his back. John speaks up and says, “Let me help you. Give me some of what you are carrying.”
Not to appear weak, Joel responds quickly, “No, I got this.”
They walk together for a while, but as they trudge on John repeats his offer to help.
No longer able to hide the struggle, Joel grunts and huffs. “No, I told you; I got this.”
John sighs knowing his friend’s strength is giving out. They only had gone a few more steps , when Joel falls to the ground. The weight he bore on his back came crashing down on top of Joel killing him instantly. For though he was strong, Joel couldn’t survive the heavy weight that had landed on his neck.
John rushed to try to help his friend, but it was to no avail. He knew his friend Joel was dead; a good friend, but very stubborn which unfortunately led to his death.
Together, John and Joel would have come along side each other to help bear the burden together. It would have been lighter and a safer way to handle the situation. But now, John was left to grieve the loss of his friend.
We are told to cast our cares on Jesus in prayer , and that’s not just a one time occurrence.
1 Peter 5:7
casting all your worries on him, because he cares for you.
There are always many cares and burdens and without help they will just pile up. The weight begins to crush people in the form of stress, anxiety, suicidal thoughts etc. Crying out to the Lord, doesn’t mean He will always remove the burden or situation immediately. Light doesn’t mean easy or non-existent . Those times when the Lord says, “No, My Grace is sufficient.” Doesn’t mean He will leave us to carry the burden alone. He will walk with us carrying some of the weight together with us , like Simon of Cyrene helped the Lord carry His Cross.
Matthew 11:28-30
Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
2 Corinthians 12:7-9
By reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted excessively, a thorn in the flesh was given to me: a messenger of Satan to torment me, that I should not be exalted excessively. 8 Concerning this thing, I begged the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me.
*All verses are from World English Bible Version
What burdens are you trying to carry alone?
Will you cry out to the Lord in Prayer?
Don’t wait till it crushes you…
Don’t let the grief crush you. Cry out to the One who can handle your grief and knows the words behind your pain as the tears fall. Write it down and get honest with yourself and turn to the Lord. Let Him be your comfort and Healer.