Handling Grief

Tragedies happen? "Why?”  Why does God allow bad things to happen? 

Grief is a multifaceted response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or something to which a bond was formed.  Grief is a natural response to loss. It is the emotional suffering one feels when something or someone the individual loves is taken away. Grief is also a reaction to any loss. The grief associated with death is familiar to most people, but we grieve in connection with a variety of losses throughout our lives, such as unemployment, ill health or the end of a relationship. 

Every step of the grieving process is natural and healthy. It is only when a person gets stuck in one step for a long period of time that the grieving can become unhealthy, destructive and even dangerous. Going through the grieving process is not the same for everyone, but everyone does have a common goal; acceptance of the loss and to keep moving forward. The process is different for every person and can involve a wide range of feelings, thoughts, and behaviours. The goal of grieving is not the elimination of all the pain or the memories of the loss. The goal is to reorganise one’s life, so the loss is an important part of life rather than its centre. There is not a right or a wrong way to grieve.  Everyone grieves differently.  

As a Christian, while I grieve I turn to God’s Word to find strength and comfort. The book of Proverbs says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding" The more you know God, the more you will trust God. What is there not to trust? He is completely loving, wise, powerful, and good, but it is one thing to express a belief in God, and another to actually trust in him with all your heart. Trusting the Lord with all your heart means walking out, by faith, on his Word, no matter what consequences or opposition you may face.

Trusting God wholeheartedly also means resolutely refusing to lean on your own understanding. This, of course, does not mean that we are to give up the sound mind and reasoning spirit that God has given us. But it does mean that we are not to rely on our limited knowledge, experience, and emotions to guide us safely through life.

The question to ask yourself is this: do you trust God in precisely those places where your natural inclination is strongest against his leadership or direction or commandments? When the Bible clearly spells out his counsel, will you take it regardless of your personal preferences or preconceptions?

It is precisely at those places where we are least inclined to listen to or follow God that we are most able to show our devotion to him and our trust of him. Is there an area of your life today in which you have the opportunity to trust in the Lord, rather than in your own understanding? If so, cast all your cares upon Him because He's the only One who really does care for you.

Written by a Guest Blogger

W-H-Y?

Just three letters: W-H-Y. 

Why? 

Why so much pain? 

Why so much wickedness? 

Why do people suffer?.. 

Why?Why,?Why? 

Have you ever wrestled with this question? Perhaps you've lost a loved one, or maybe you know of some innocent person who has suffered terribly. And just wondered.. Why?

Well, God's Word, the Bible gives the answer. What brought suffering and pain? Yes, it is the result of man's original sin in the Garden of Eden. 'Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned,' Romans 5:12, the Bible. But perhaps you wonder, why did God allow sin to continue? Couldn't He have stopped it at once and destroyed the sinners? 

Don't waste my death - Seek the Truth Bible Media Blogs

Don't waste my death - Seek the Truth Bible Media Blog
http://liverpoolphotoblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/dont-waste-my-death-seek-truth-bible.html

Psalm 69

Save Me, O God
To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. Of David.

1
Save me, O God!
For the waters have come up to my neck.
2
I sink in deep mire,
where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
and the flood sweeps over me.
3
I am weary with my crying out;
my throat is parched.
My eyes grow dim
with waiting for my God.
4
More in number than the hairs of my head
are those who hate me without cause;
mighty are those who would destroy me,
those who attack me with lies.
What I did not steal
must I now restore?
5
O God, you know my folly;
the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.
6
Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me,
O Lord GOD of hosts;
let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me,
O God of Israel.
7
For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach,
that dishonor has covered my face.
8
I have become a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my mother's sons.
9
For zeal for your house has consumed me,
and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
10
When I wept and humbledn my soul with fasting,
it became my reproach.
11
When I made sackcloth my clothing,
I became a byword to them.
12
I am the talk of those who sit in the gate,
and the drunkards make songs about me.
13
But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD.
At an acceptable time, O God,
in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.
14
Deliver me
from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies
and from the deep waters.
15
Let not the flood sweep over me,
or the deep swallow me up,
or the pit close its mouth over me.
16
Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good;
according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
17
Hide not your face from your servant;
for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.
18
Draw near to my soul, redeem me;
ransom me because of my enemies!
19
You know my reproach,
and my shame and my dishonor;
my foes are all known to you.
20
Reproaches have broken my heart,
so that I am in despair.
I looked for pity, but there was none,
and for comforters, but I found none.
21
They gave me poison for food,
and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.
22
Let their own table before them become a snare;
and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.
23
Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,
and make their loins tremble continually.
24
Pour out your indignation upon them,
and let your burning anger overtake them.
25
May their camp be a desolation;
let no one dwell in their tents.
26
For they persecute him whom you have struck down,
and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.
27
Add to them punishment upon punishment;
may they have no acquittal from you.
28
Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;
let them not be enrolled among the righteous.
29
But I am afflicted and in pain;
let your salvation, O God, set me on high!
30
I will praise the name of God with a song;
I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31
This will please the LORD more than an ox
or a bull with horns and hoofs.
32
When the humble see it they will be glad;
you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
33
For the LORD hears the needy
and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.
34
Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and everything that moves in them.
35
For God will save Zion
and build up the cities of Judah,
and people shall dwell there and possess it;
36
the
offspring of his servants shall inherit it,
and those who love his name shall dwell in it.













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