I think everyone learned in this week's grief share session the importance of working through the emotions of your grief so that one day you can be used by God to be a blessing to others just entering this journey.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

 One of the hallmarks of being a follower of Jesus in this pandemic time is watching God use His mighty word to breathe life back into you, one step at a time.  When we lose someone special most of us are feeling alone as if we are walking on hot desert sands looking everywhere for relief from this pain and suffering. As our skin burns and calluses form on the bottom of our feet we feel this ever-increasing hurt that never seems to end.   We try disparately to recover by reading self-help books on grief and maybe attending a church service or two, but even that falls short in relieving us of the pain. 

So many of us try to recover from this pain simply by going back to the routines of life- one of those routines was until the shutdown occurred, was going to our workspaces performing for 8-9 hours work that brings meaning to each of us; yet, when that opportunity was taken away from us for the sake of curbing the virus, we were stuck at home without any support that might have been available to us before the pandemic. 

What grieving people need most in their recovery process is a quick hug, a smile, or a kind word from a listening ear- not easy to find at a time such as this.  Even losing the ability to read people's facial expressions has been a valuable commodity as we trudge on wearing facemasks that hide our identity.

If you could only see what Jesus is doing to help you recover from the unrelenting pain from your losses. He is at your side guiding you on your path. He is occasionally lifting you up and carrying you when you no longer have the strength to do it on your own. He is creating little miracle moments that reveal the realities of heaven above.  He does this because He loves you.

I encourage everyone hurting from singular or multiple losses to search for a grief share group near you. Grief share is a 13-week group that helps you by taking you through the pain, not around it like so many of us want to do.  There are no shortcuts to recovering from this pain. It will take time, but the time spent in a community of people going through losses will help you recover faster than trying to do this on your own. I encourage you to search for a group at https:www.griefshare.org.

If you do this, I assure you by the grace of God that you will come out of this grief much stronger and more resilient than you did at the beginning of your grief.