"They found grace out in the desert, these people...out looking for a place to rest, met God out looking for them. God told them, "I've never quit loving you and never will. Expect love, love and more love! And so now I'll start over with you and build you up again...You'll resume your singing, grabbing tambourines and joining the dance. You'll go back to your old work of planting vineyards on the Samaritan hillsides, and sit back and enjoy the fruit..." Jeremiah 31, "The Message"
So what does a passage in the Old Testament written by an ancient prophet to the people of Israel have to do with grief?
When I was processing the loss of my husband, I found the Bible to be a great comfort. The Psalms were filled with cries for God to hear the writer's pain, sorrow, fears and anxieties, asking for protection, guidance and healing. And there were songs of joy and praise and deliverance. Together, the right words I needed each morning seemed to jump off the page, grab my soul and heal my spirit. These people could be honest about what they were feeling. There was power behind the words and they had an immediate impact on my pain. I was not alone in what I was feeling.
The Psalms began my journey of wandering through the Bible instead of a formal study, and each day when I opened it up, some new passage grabbed my attention as though it were highlighted. I found words that I needed to hear so many times and in so many places in the Bible, it made me laugh. Why were they so powerful? Why did they have such an impact on my own grief?
I believe it was because I found people just like me who were experiencing the same things I was. They spoke openly to God, expressing their need for answers to their questions, demanding God reveal Himself to them, and seeking comfort and direction in the process. When I inserted my name within the passages, they became a personalized message to God and from God and I experienced hope and comfort.
We need many tools to help us through the process of grief. Sometimes it is words we hear in a song or a sermon or read in a story. It can be the unfailing call of a good friend checking in. It can be quiet walks allowing nature to calm and quiet us in its beauty, or it can be the daily nourishing of God's love as I experienced each day through the Bible.
Grief tends to isolate us as we find it difficult to describe what we are experiencing, the inconsistencies of thoughts and feelings. We want and need to know that others have gone through this journey and need to know that the pain we feel will come to an end.
If we are willing to reach out, we will find the support we need to facilitate our trip through the desert of our souls and we will not feel so alone. If we step forward each day with words of comfort and hope, our pain will gradually shrink and be replaced with activities and friendships that will bring us joy, happiness and contentment again.
"As a desert that springs to life after a rain, my spirit drinks in the beauty of sunrises and painted clouds and eagles soaring and I know that God is all around me. And I am at peace."
Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC
www.MarleneAnderson-Focus.com
www.focuswithmarlene.blogspot.com
contributing author www.authorhaven.blogspot.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment