GRIEVING EARLY

So now wrap your heart tightly around the hope that lives within us, knowing that God always keeps his promises!

~Hebrews 10:23 TPT

On this journey, we often grieve the loss of those we love long before the one we love passes away. Grief is never easy, but there is a key to surviving the long road of grief.

MY GRIEF JOURNEY

I was married to my late husband, Jim, for nine years and four days.  Three years into our marriage, his health began to suffer. With each injury, surgery, heart attack, and treatment, I lost a little more of him, until he finally lost his battle with cancer.

I grieved for six years before Jim passed. Each health event took a little more of him from me. It can be excruciatingly painful to lose the one we love, whether through death or by some other means.

Sometimes, grief isn’t the result of a singular event, but a step-by-step path we walk. Along the way, we slowly lose bits and pieces of our loved ones, until one day, we finally surrender them fully into the arms of God.

It wasn’t until I lost Jim that I understood the concept of holding loosely what we love. The tighter our grip on the temporal, the more painful it is to have our fingers pried off when they die.

We are wise to release those we love to the hands of God now and not wait until holding on to them is no longer an option. God’s arms are where they have always belonged. It is only then, when our hands are free, that we can fully take hold of the peace of God.

So now I live with the confidence that there is nothing in the universe with the power to separate us from God’s love. I’m convinced that his love will triumph over death, life’s troubles, fallen angels, or dark rulers in the heavens. There is nothing in our present or future circumstances that can weaken his love.

~Romans 8:38 TPT

ETERNITY FOR OUR LOVED ONES

It is an ongoing work to hold God tightly. We will eventually be separated from everything and everyone else, at least for a time. But God remains the only unshakeable Rock we can cling to.

If you are grieving a loss or holding someone or something too tightly, I encourage you to let go of what is fleeting so you can take hold of the security found only in our eternal God.

Are you grieving? Ask God for help.

Father, teach me to hold tightly to You and to hold everyone and everything else in lightly-cupped and uplifted hands. I believe and trust You. Help my unbelief and soften my hands to trust You to keep all I hold dear. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Genre: Non-fiction

Copyright 2023: Surviving the Long Road of Grief: Julie Souza Bradley Lilly: All Rights Reserved