Your mission Mr. G. will be to educate people on the grief process. In 30 seconds this message will destroy itself

Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path

My favorite show growing up was watching the Peter Graves version of 'Mission Impossible' with it's never ending action trying to solve international crimes. When the movie version came out in recent years I was quite disappointed because the movie didn't stay true to the original series.

Our lives, it seems, can take on a mission impossible path. One day a package arrives in the mail with a tape recorder with instructions on our next adventure.

When our daughter Maria died on June 10th, 2007 my life changed.  Once I was able to work through all of the messy grief and resolve my anger I saw my mission as educating others on the horrible grief process. It wasn't an overnight healing. It took me years to fully recover from this type of grief, but when I reached my new normal I began to see a need to share my story with others. People say they know how to handle their grief, but do they really? 

I found along my path of discovery people who are still trying to recover from grief often many years later. One family revisited the their pain of losing their daughter many years later when they heard about our loss.Why?  American's, it seems, are not very good at recovering from their grief. Most of us would rather find a nice looking hypothetical box, take the lid off of it and stuff all of their hurts and pains of their grief into that box before placing the cover back on it and sliding it way in the back of the shelf where they hope they will never see it again.  We are often told to just 'get over it' and move on.  The problem with this type of thinking is that unless you process all of your emotions and your pain your grief will always be there because when future losses occur  your earlier grief will resurface.

Like the character in Mission Impossible I felt that I was given a tape recorder with this message: " Good morning Mr. G. your mission should you choose to accept it is to use your grief journey to help others to recover from grief. This is a monumental task because you will come up against most people who will attempt to place their emotional pain into a box and shove it away forever.  I have placed you in such a time as this to help others with their grief journey.  This tape will self destruct in 30 seconds.'  

When the end of each episode arrived the good guys always won. Good trumped evil every time. God can take the worst tragedy in our lives and make it into something positive.  My mom would often remind us that when given a lemon, make lemonade.  When grief occurs you may not feel normal, but if you lean into your grief, like a guy leans into his sail, your grief will get better.  It may take weeks, months, or even years, but you will come out a better, stronger and more resilient person. 

I encourage you to find a version of the bible you understand and begin reading from the beginning of the new testament and as you read take notes and write in a journey about insights and reflections that cross your mind as your read.  God will bring something new to you each new day of your grief journey.  I also encourage you to find a local church and even though it will feel like walking on hot desert sand attend that local church  Sunday after Sunday. You may not feel like singing joyful songs, but that is OK. As you honor God by placing one foot in front of the other God will help you recover from whatever tragedy that is in your life.  

As you travel this grief journey you may decide like me to help others recover from their grief. As I am reminded with the words from Revelation 'God really does make all things new'. 

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