His anger lasts for only a second,
but his favor lasts a lifetime.
Weeping may stay all night,
but by morning, joy! Psalm 30:5
It is so easy to let ourselves go, not intentionally, after the loss of someone we loved. We eat the comfort foods thinking that we would feel better. We sleep to much because we want to return to our dream state where we can possibly 'touch' and 'talk' to our loved one who has died. When we aren't sleeping we throw ourselves into life's activities, thinking that will fill us with enough things to make us feel better about the loss.
Like the character, Phil Connors,the arrogant Pittsburg weatherman,we wake up reliving the same intense emotions we had the day before for the one we miss. Left unchecked these emotions can lead to I statements that send us into a downward spiral:
1.) If only I was able to catch the symptoms my loved one was experiencing, then maybe he/she would still be alive.
2) If only I did that life saving procedure better he/she would be alive.
3) God took him/her from me because of me ( didn't do enough spiritual leadership in my home, I wasn't good enough to the one I loss).
4.) If only I had better communicated t hose symptoms then maybe I would have had a better outcome.
I did this plenty of times in the months following the loss of my daughter, but eventually I came to the realization that those 'If only' statements were false. I began to realize that my God was capable of feeling the pain I was going through and helping me recover while at the same time bringing my loved one home to heaven in the midst of welcome home banners and graffiti parades on the streets of gold.
He does this through his Holy spirit that dwells in each of us when we accept his son, Jesus Christ into our hearts. Which is why I made the choice to keep putting one foot in front of the other and do the things that pleases God:
1.) I attend weekly worship services and listen to the God inspired messages from our Pastors.
2.) I listen to soul healing Christian music.
3.) I read the word of God.
I discovered that by doing those things I begin to counter the false messages that kept repeating in my mind. As I feel better from those action steps I begin to make other postive steps:
1.) I try to eat less of the junk food and more of the healthy stuff.
2) I exercise more.
3.) I watch the news less, especially before bedtime, so I can more easily sleep.
4.) I check in with my doctor and give him a ready report of my grief so he can monitor my grief with appropriate over the counter sleep aids, or a mild anti-depressant if it warrants.
God wants you to not only survive the loss you experience, but he also wants you to thrive and come out stronger in the end.
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