We all go through trials in our lifetime. We have events that affect us deeply. You can’t live a very long life until sin, sickness, tragic death, loss of a job, children in trouble or a myriad of other events hit you when you least expect it.
I want to talk about two elements of dealing with those events. You can either deal with it or let it overwhelm you. If you don’t deal with it ,your life can reflect your suffering by depression, sickness, addictive habits. lost relationships If you ignore the pain that you are going through, if you say to yourself, i’ll get over it , if you tell yourself suck it up and go on, you will most likely suffer for it.
So may I suggest you start following James 5:13-16. It says, “Is anyone of you in trouble,?
he should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is anyone of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well, , the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous man is powerful and effective”
What we may glean from that scripture is that the community of faith will be there for anyone who is going through distress. Can’t we all remember when we had a problem we could discuss it with someone we knew and trusted, they listened and were supportive. Wasn’t that a relief when you unburdened yourself? The church is our sanctuary, a place we can go to help us heal. How? Expanding on the scripture I would say that through church friends, fellow Christians, believers, through their individual concern and listening But let me suggest another church activity and that is small groups If you are a member of a small group at church whether it be bible study, Sunday School our outreach ministry, to name a few, hopefully you bond with members of that group.
The second element of dealing with these life events is grief. We could write several blogs about the elements of grief. But for this discussion I want to focus on being able to grieve. So many people deny their grief., and as I have said above, it manifests itself in unhealthy behaviors. This is where I think small groups (as well as individual Christians), play a part in getting that person to verbalize their grief. I have had many occurrences where a person in grief found comfort and solace talking about it with the people in their group
The people in your group have known you for a while, maybe have known some of your struggles and maybe have shared their struggles with you,, but most of all, have worked with you, studied with you and prayed with you, and will reach out to to help you through the valley.
Your grief may be for something that happened many years ago and you didn’t deal with it at the time. Now you have an outlet , a sounding board to help you through it. I can’t express enough the need for you to come to grips with your unresolved grief. Because of what happened to you may have frozen you in a life today that is less fulfilling because of it.
Oh you may never forget the incident, but God guides you through it and wants you to have life and have it abundantly!! Amen
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