Faith and Grief

 

Heaven on the Horizon

By Elizabeth M. Thompson

 

Brothers we do not want you to…grieve like the rest of men who have no hope.

1 Thessalonians 4:13

 

Our hope of heaven profoundly affects how we grieve. Without heaven on the horizon, we would have reason for intense, inconsolable grief and even despair. Instead, the death of a believer is bittersweet—we know that our loved one is with the Lord, Jesus Christ and we have a holy longing for that nearness to the One we love the most.

 

We also have a void in our life—a place in our heart that our loved one filled that now stands vacant, like a handless glove. Though we don’t grieve as though our beloved is forever lost, we still grieve. We grieve our daily connection. We grieve the touch of our loved one, the sound of his voice, the joy she brought us. We still grieve, but not the pathetic sorrow of hopelessness.

 

Ours is a grief infused with hope—hope that our beloved is in the presence of Jesus, hope that we will one day join him in heaven and hope for a reunion more joyful than we could imagine.

 

Lord, because of you I have hope! Thank you for giving me hope for an eternity with you and with my loved one. I am forever grateful. Amen

Take My Yoke by Elizabeth M. Thompson

Take My Yoke

By Elizabeth M. Thompson

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. Matthew 11:29

 

The yoke of Jesus fits. It does not weigh us down, but makes productivity possible. Jesus does the hard part—like a young boy “helping” his father mow the lawn. Dad’s arms straddle the boy’s arms and securely hold the mower, controlling its pace and direction. The child is safe between his father’s arms. Even though the mower is powerful enough to harm him, it is harnessed by the father.

 

In the same way, our grief is harnessed by the Lord. It hurts, but its power to harm us is tamed, controlled. When we are yoked with Jesus, he takes the hard tasks and provides us the security we need to do our part. With our cooperation, he makes our grief productive.

 

Lord, I need to remember to stay yoked to you. I long for you to work in my life and through my life. Thank you for the security of your loving arms around me as we work through my grief together. Amen

 

A Grief Quote

Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose.  ~From the television show The Wonder Years

 

A Reason for Joy                         

By Elizabeth M. Thompson

 

 

Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Psalm 90:14

 

Songs of joy and gladness do not naturally flow from us when we are grieving. In our grief, we have heavy hearts that see nothing to sing about. But if we look more closely, we find we have a reason for joy: we can be satisfied every morning with God's unfailing love.

 

The Bible tells us God’s love is faithful and unchanging. Even on the days when we cannot feel it, it is here! He is faithful each day to fill us with the full measure of his love. Though our circumstances are painful we can delight in the fact that we are loved.

 

Lord, I need your full measure of love today. I will not bring an empty cup to you to fill but my empty self. Fill me to overflowing with your unfailing love, satisfy me. You are my reason for joy. Amen

A Grief Quote

Sorrow makes us all children again - destroys all differences of intellect.  The wisest know nothing.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Stillness: A Grief Devotional by Elizabeth M. Thompson

  Stillness

By Elizabeth M. Thompson

Be still, and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10

When death takes someone we love, we are immediately swallowed up by the enormity of the loss. We are catapulted into a multitude of activities and myriad details. Decisions, plans, notifications, and legal documents sweep us into action.

We make our way down the to-do list amazed that we can function at all. The activity continues and we are told: “It is good to stay busy; it keeps your mind off things.”

True, busyness can distract us from the full force of our loss. But it can also distract us from the Lord Jesus Christ. In order to be aware of God’s presence, his comfort and love, we need to be still. We need our hands, our bodies, and most importantly, our minds to be still. If we take the time each day to meditate on the greatness of God and allow his Word to plant itself in our hearts, we will walk in the knowledge of who God is and how much he loves us.

Be still today so God can infuse all your activities with the awareness of his presence.

Lord, it is hard to be still today. There is so much to do. My mind is fragmented and over-stimulated, trying to comprehend my loss, my changed life. Lord I want to walk this path hand-in-hand with you. Help me to carve out stillness in my day. Amen

The Anchor Holds by Elizabeth M. Thompson

“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus,” if you had been here, my brother would not have died...” John 11:21

I have tasted the bitterness on my tongue as I leveled this accusation at my Lord, “You could have healed him! How could you let my beloved die and cause me so much pain? Why did you not act? I know you love me, so why did you allow this catastrophic storm of grief into my life?”

When the healing doesn’t come and in its place comes death, where is the healer? He holds the one thing we yearn for more than anything else, and he withholds it. Why?

We may never be able to answer that question. But we learn that Jesus wants us to seek him, not just what he can do for us. He wants our trust to run so deep that the circumstances have no power over it.

We find the storms of life reveal to us what anchors our soul and whether or not the anchor holds. On those days when I wake to see that I have survived another heartbroken night, I know my soul is secure; my anchor holds.

Lord, you are the anchor of my soul, without you I could not survive this torrential grief. My pain would overtake me and I would be lost at sea. Who am I to question you? Your ways and your thoughts are far greater than mine. I will trust you. Amen.

 

The Anchor Holds

By Elizabeth M. Thompson

A Grief Quote

Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak whispers the o'er-fraught heart and bids it break.  ~William Shakespeare

Vulnerable to Grief by Elizabeth M. Thompson

Vulnerable to Grief

By Elizabeth M. Thompson

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces. He was despised and we esteemed him not.

Isaiah 53:3

I am perplexed by the thought that Jesus—God in the flesh—suffered grief. When God became a man he longed to make himself relatable, approachable to us.

Because Jesus suffered losses and experienced grief, He is able to identify with my grief. He knows how I feel and has empathy and compassion for me. Because He humbled Himself to become like us—taking on human form—He understands our pain, our suffering and all the emotional turmoil that can accompany our loss.

Jesus chose to identify Himself with us in our grief. He willingly experienced losses, because of His longing to connect with us in our pain. If He loves us enough to take on grief and suffering, we know He can lead us from the depths of grief to restored joy and purpose.

Dear Lord, thank you for making yourself vulnerable to grief and loss for our sake. Please help me though my grief and lead me to acceptance, contentment and peace. Amen.

A Grief Quote

You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present.  ~Jan Glidewell