We all go through trials in our lifetime. We have events that affect us deeply. Your 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. We can either deal with it or let it overwhelm us. IF you don’t deal with it, life can reflect your suffering by depression, sickness, addictive habits and lost relationships. If you ignore the pain you are going through, if you say to yourself, I will get over it. If you tell yourself to 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, “if anyone is in trouble he should pray. If anyone is happy, let him sing songs of praise. If any of you is sick you should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. and the prayers offered in faith will make the sick person well., the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned he will be forgiven. Therefor confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so 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. had someone to discuss it with who would listen and be supportive? Wasn’t that a relief when you unburdened yourself? The church is our sanctuary , a place we can go that will help us heal. How? Expanding on the scripture, I would say that church friends, fellow Christians ,believers can, through their individual concerns and listening be an instrument of healing. But let me suggest another church activity and that is small groups. IF you are a member of a small group bet it Sunday School, ,bible study, outreach ministry to name a few, they can be the loving and concerned folks for you to turn to.
The second element of dealing with these life events is your 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 already said this manifests in unhealthy behaviors. This is where I think small groups (as well as individual Christians) can play a part not only in expressing their grief but walking through it. I have had many instances where a person in grief found help and comfort talking about it with their group, or Christian friend.
Just last month I have had occasion to be supportive to 3 people who have lost loved ones. The first one was a 45 year old lady that lost her husband in an explosion. Her grief was profound. She of course was surrounded by good friends and family. I played a small part in helping her through the grief process. Another lady lost her husband of 15 years to COVID. His death was not totally unexpected as hi had not been in good health for a while. However she depended on him for everything. Her grief was as much for what was she going to do next as anything. The third was another older couple. He was not feeling well that they went to the hospital to check him out and he never recovered. She is a strong Christian and as she said her grief is tempered with the knowledge that he is with his Lord in heaven.
God want you to have life and have it abundantly, however we all suffer losses. You will never forget the incident, but He wants you to know that He walks with you through your grief. Amen
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