Sunday, January 27, 2013

Grief Reveals Our Inner Truth


Grief Reveals Our Inner Truth

“The darker the night, the brighter the stars,
The deeper the grief, the closer is God!”


Grief takes many forms. Perhaps it follows the loss of a job, a failed marriage, regret, depression, or watching someone you love die. Grief inspires change, sometimes for constructive growth and other times the instigator of self-destruction. We have a choice.

Grief does not define me, but it has transformed me and revealed who I am as Christ’s bride. I am valuable to Him, and nothing I’ve ever done could have changed that when I began a relationship with Him age the age of 10.

In the midst of my father’s death, I couldn’t escape the drowning sensation of the loss leveraging my doubts against my faith. But, God’s promises proved to prevail and part the seas through the depth of my unbelief.

About two years ago, I recall vividly, being hunched over in the shower, doubled over in racking sobs. I prayed and cried out to my heavenly Father, telling Him the anguish of losing my dad. Like the fierceness of being caught in a hurricane, the most soothing hug enveloped me, and I sensed that Jesus had His healing arms around my shoulders…and He was weeping too. The calmest place for me to be was in the eye of that storm until it passed.

That experience is one of the most authentic moments that still penetrate my heart, and I felt overawed with the purest joy of knowing Jesus. He literally cries with me when I’m distraught, and He longs to rock me to sleep at night during those difficult times so I’ll learn to be dependent on Him.

Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” This tells me that during those times when I wonder if God is actually listening to me because He hasn’t answered prayers in my time frame, I still must have faith. Faith, like life, cannot be based on my feelings but rather obedience, carried out by acts of belief that I know He’s always there for me, even when I don’t “feel” Him.  

Grief reveals our inner truth. It does not lie. It responds to who we are in our hearts and is reflective of our relationship with God.

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