Gee whiz, I am not the same person I was before my loss! What gives?

4 And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable: 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it.6 Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. 8 But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.”When He had said these things He cried, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” Matthew 8:4

I often heard this question asked by people who have gone through losses that they are not the same person they were before their loved one died. For me it was my anger at the injustice I thought had betrayed me that changed me. Why? Why? Why? Those words went through my head over and over again like a CD that wants to keep playing the same lyrics again and again. Only when I sat quietly listening and reading passages from God's word did I begin to understand from His perspective why this happened.

Tragedies in our lives permanently changes us. Many of us were not the same after 9/11occurred. Many of us turned to God for comfort and guidance. Our hearts were ripe for hearing what He had to say to us. Hard times will do that.

 As we go through a period of uncertainty of market losses our natural inclination is to lash out in anger like I did shortly after my loss. "This cannot happen to me! I was counting on that money for retirement!!"

It is OK to be angry, but for our long term health we cannot stay fixated on our anger. We must process it and the only way to process it is to turn to the King of kings and the Lord of lords and see what He has to say about what just happened.

Losses will always be with us. Loss of a job, loss of good health,divorce of parents, loss of a spouse, a child and the loss of material wealth will ebb and flow much like the waves of an ocean. How you respond to those losses is the important question. Will you lash out in anger, reject God, turn to drugs and alcohol to cope with your losses, or will you pick yourself up each Sabbath morning and head to your local house of worship and listen to what God has to say to you that week? 

In the beginning of our loss we may have to literally place one foot in front of the other and painfully go to church, but in time you will reap many more blessings from that worship experience. Hard times do change us. We are not the same, but this isn't all bad once you begin to see the meaning behind those losses in your life!!