Psalm 34:4–5
“I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.”
As I was driving up to NowThen, Minnesota to do some repair work on my daughter's grave stone, I listened to Susie Larson, KTIS, interviewing Max Lucado, author, Pastor, husband and grandfather share about his observations during this Pandemic. He shared his experiences of going to the local grocery store all masked up and seeing masks on everyone else. What he noticed was the fear in the eyes of everyone he encountered. If he got too close to someone the other person would move away quickly as if they might get the virus from him. He shared that the forced isolation resulting from this Pandemic is causing far higher rates of suicides than ever before. When people's economic lives have been shattered, their bank accounts destroyed, along with the hope that things would get better, it seems that suicide becomes a reality for some.
I remember the 1980's at the height of the Aids epidemic. It was a time where the fear of being too close to someone with aids who was 'gay' was at a all time high. We were all fearful that just touching someone with aids would give us the dreaded disease. Fear was the prevailing emotion of that time, just as fear is the prevailing one today.
The song by Zach Williams is perfect as it describes what everyone is feeling during this uncertain time. As I was walking the cemetery praying for the families struggling with the pain of their loss, I saw one new grave marker with the mom who's son died 10-years ago. Her grave site still showed the edges of where they dug. I wonder about her suffering since her son died.
I also saw the grave site of a student who attended Legacy Christian Academy who was tragically killed in a car accident. Her twin sister survived. I wondered about how the surviving members of her family were doing, and especially her surviving twin. Was she blaming herself for this loss? Has she forgiven herself?
Our ability to go to an actual workplace to perform duties and work with fellow co-worker's is for one brief moment allows us to leave our problems at home. For some, this Pandemic forces us to face the triggers that persist in the home of our deceased loved one.
My wife and I made the conscious decision to continue to go to the same church with our then 12-year-old son after Maria died. We chose not to run from our grief and instead get involved in grief groups like Griefshare.org. This involvement allowed each of us to see that we were not going crazy and that grief pain is a normal reaction for the love we had for our daughter.
I noticed that Maria's shepherd's hook didn't have a hanging plant and so I drove off to the local nursery in town. As I drove, I asked God to show me the perfect hanging plant. The young lady said they had two hanging plants and the one I liked with all the pink little flowers use to be 35.00 , now marked down to 10.00. I quickly paid for the flowers and rushed back to hang the plant while saying a word of thanks for finding this plant.
I learned from my grief journey how many different ways the Lord reveals little miracles to help us on our journey. If you are feeling alone and isolated from this Pandemic and perhaps experiencing pain from a recent or a series of collective losses, I encourage you to consider getting involved in Griefshare which will teach you in 13-weeks how to go through the pain of your grief, not around it. https://www.griefshare.org/ I assure you that you will be glad you did!
If you do not have a faith community to plug in where you can better get know this same Jesus that has helped our family, I encourage you to check out this church. There are both on-site services, as well as on-line. https://newhopechurchmn.org/
The song by Zach Williams is perfect as it describes what everyone is feeling during this uncertain time. As I was walking the cemetery praying for the families struggling with the pain of their loss, I saw one new grave marker with the mom who's son died 10-years ago. Her grave site still showed the edges of where they dug. I wonder about her suffering since her son died.
I also saw the grave site of a student who attended Legacy Christian Academy who was tragically killed in a car accident. Her twin sister survived. I wondered about how the surviving members of her family were doing, and especially her surviving twin. Was she blaming herself for this loss? Has she forgiven herself?
Our ability to go to an actual workplace to perform duties and work with fellow co-worker's is for one brief moment allows us to leave our problems at home. For some, this Pandemic forces us to face the triggers that persist in the home of our deceased loved one.
My wife and I made the conscious decision to continue to go to the same church with our then 12-year-old son after Maria died. We chose not to run from our grief and instead get involved in grief groups like Griefshare.org. This involvement allowed each of us to see that we were not going crazy and that grief pain is a normal reaction for the love we had for our daughter.
I noticed that Maria's shepherd's hook didn't have a hanging plant and so I drove off to the local nursery in town. As I drove, I asked God to show me the perfect hanging plant. The young lady said they had two hanging plants and the one I liked with all the pink little flowers use to be 35.00 , now marked down to 10.00. I quickly paid for the flowers and rushed back to hang the plant while saying a word of thanks for finding this plant.
I learned from my grief journey how many different ways the Lord reveals little miracles to help us on our journey. If you are feeling alone and isolated from this Pandemic and perhaps experiencing pain from a recent or a series of collective losses, I encourage you to consider getting involved in Griefshare which will teach you in 13-weeks how to go through the pain of your grief, not around it. https://www.griefshare.org/ I assure you that you will be glad you did!
If you do not have a faith community to plug in where you can better get know this same Jesus that has helped our family, I encourage you to check out this church. There are both on-site services, as well as on-line. https://newhopechurchmn.org/
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