EMBRACING GRIEF ...

EMBRACING Him in the Midst of Hurt & Heartache

#55 "Dealing with Deep Grief"

Psalm 34:18
I have read quite alot on the topic of 'grief' and recently on 'lament'. I've even shared on this blog about some of mine and a GriefShare Study I did "Help for the Journey". Yet I'd be the first to tell you that I don't deal well with grief, and deep grief would be even worse for me. I believe God knows this about me because often He arranges things to prepare me or help with dealing with grief in advance, but since I don't deal with normal grief, He certainly knows deep grief is beyond my coping mechanisms, just not His. Although both of my parents, all our aunts and uncles, some cousins and friends, our youngest brother, and many more, have left this earthly home for another, I am not just speaking of grief/loss by the death of someone, but other losses that I have faced in my life journey.
All this is to let you know, I'm the least likely to help anyone or write about grief. Experience, in this case, does not qualify you, it only allows you to understand on some levels the grief others go through and sympathize. I hardly know what to write or say to someone in deep grief, as some of my dearest friends have experienced but I hope in some way, I was there for them to listen and perhaps comfort in some small way. Being an encourager, usually, you'd think I'd have this down by now. {Not} 
So, even though, this blog title is "Embracing Grief" or loss, as I first had written ... I don't believe I have a grip yet, nor am I ready to "embrace grief or any loss" but I do think I'm learning and getting better. It's just that in no way can I share any valuable personal stuff to help you go on and move forward through the stages of grief, like Lysa TerKeurst does or what I'm about to share from Pastor Rick Warren's 'Daily Hope' email, which arrived this past week, a couple of days ahead of this devotion (again, this is God and how He prepares me). I may have to delete this because of sharing his devotion, that is probably copyrighted, but I'm only trying to offer this to help you and myself with embracing grief ... however, even if we can't, we can rest and find comfort in God's Word and through the Holy Spirit, know that we are EMBRACED by God as we face our grief, lament and deal better with whatever loss we face.

In a Season of Loss, Release Your Grief BY RICK WARREN — AUGUST 5, 2019 “Pour out your heart to Him, for God is our refuge” (Psalm 62:8 NLT). "Tragedy always produces strong emotions—anger, fear, depression, worry, and sometimes guilt. These feelings can scare us, and we often don’t know what to do with them. When we have experienced a major loss, these enormous feelings bubble up within us. If we don’t deal with them now, it will take us far longer to recover. Some people never directly deal with grief in life. They stuff it. They push it down. They pretend it’s not there. They act like it doesn’t exist. And that’s why they’re still struggling with emotional stress from losses that occurred 20 or 30 years earlier. There’s a myth that says God wants you to walk around with a smile on your face all the time saying, “Praise the Lord!” The Bible doesn’t say that anywhere. In fact, Jesus taught the exact opposite. In Matthew 5:4, he says, “God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (NLT). It’s okay to grieve. When people are Christians, we know they will go on to heaven when they die, so we need not grieve like the world. Our grief after a loss can be different. We grieve because we’re going to miss them, but we can also be at peace because we know they are with God. What do you do with your feelings? You don’t repress them or stuff them deep inside you. You release them—you give them to God. You cry out, “God, I’m hurt! I’m grieving! This is a tough one to take.” If you want a good example of this, read through the book of Psalms, where many times David spills his guts and says, “God, I’m in a tough time right now. I am really, really hurting.” You cry out to God, just like David did. If you are going through a loss right now, please understand that if you don’t release your grief, it will pour out eventually. Feelings that are pushed down fester, and eventually they explode in a much worse situation. Release your grief first so that God can begin to heal your heart." Rick Warren

As Rick Warren has said so well, "in a season of loss, release your grief". Allow God to begin to heal us and our hearts by EMBRACING God even closer and voicing our hurts and heart aches, He can take it, He's listening, He'll bring peace, comfort and bind up those wounds. He knows what it's like. He weeps with us, especially in the wake of all the senseless tragedies happening. 
I think that this 'hurt and heartache' is one that needs more healing or continual healing and I'm so thankful that I know "The Healer" and that He knows me. He is, and has been healing me as I remember each loss, fondly the loved ones, and letting go of the other ones as I deal and face them daily along with God's healing touch.