Joy Comes in the Morning
Have you ever complained to God about His promises being unfulfilled? How many times? You know: I thought the Bible said You have good plans for me! (Jeremiah 29:11) You said if I delight in You, You would give me the desires of my heart! (Psalm 37:4) Hey, I don’t see all things working for…
Grief and Death
Death. . . .The final curtain. . . . The last roundup. Our society has invented multiple terms to remove the sting of talking about physical death. It’s considered the ultimate loss. And the loss of a loved one can be admittedly profoundly painful. It leaves a hole in your heart that had once…
Grief and Lies
What’s a common thought when grief is present? Depending on the type of loss, you could think that you deserved what happened. You might think you’ll never be happy again, or that you’ll never be successful. A common and very destructive lie is that you are the only one who’s gone through this, or you…
Grief and Anger
Have you ever known someone who, when you try to offer comfort, responds with anger? Maybe you’ve seen this in yourself. I know I have. Why would grief masquerade as anger? There could be several causes. A common one is that feeling grief scares a person. They don’t know how to deal with it; they…
How Can You Miss What You Never Had?
Think about it: how can you miss something you never had? Easy. You understand that you lost something potentially precious. That understanding may be on a conscious level, or it may be below the surface. But that depth of loss can certainly lead to grief. That question really bugs me. It’s like asking a woman…
I Deserve My Grief!
An old commercial comes to my mind when I read that title. The company advertises that it got the confidence of its customers the old fashioned way—they earned it. A lot of people who are stuck in cycles of grief, anger, or addiction justify their failure to recover with the same kind of statement. Whether…
Time Heals Grief?
“Time heals all wounds.” Let me tell you something: that old saying is not true. Time can help ease the pain, but it sure doesn’t heal.
Are You Living With Grief?
I love the Peanuts comic. It’s innocent while still often being profound. Real life problems are presented in an “everyman” sort of way. And when I was in college, our dorm hall won a Christmas decorating contest by reproducing “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. That was a blast! Charlie Brown’s favorite expression seems to be “Good…