Our Neighbors- the Grieving

  Part of life here on earth is loss. It’s one of the hardest parts of being human. We can lose people, relationships, jobs, homes, and any number of other things.

When we lose things we love, the natural response is a deep sadness, one that doesn’t easily go away. Sometimes people talk about the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

Not everyone goes through all of these stages, and some people get stuck at one stage or another. But God wants us to move to acceptance of the loss that we’ve suffered. That doesn’t mean we are no longer sad; it just means we find comfort in God’s care.

As Psalm 147 says, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” When we are comforted by Christ, we are ready to move on with our lives and move forward into God’s plan.

Sometimes God’s plan is for us to use our own experience of grief to help our neighbors in need.

In 2 Corinthians we read, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

You can use your losses to show others in your world that God provides comfort and purpose to life.

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“Sometimes God’s plan is for us to use our own experience of grief to help our neighbors in need.”

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Psalm 147:3

“He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.”