wilkinssheila77-gfrkh

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”  Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35 – 39

   Note – Excerpt taken from “A Caregiver’s Journey – Through the Valley”

Grieving every day is exhausting.  It is amazing how many tears a person can cry and yet there are still more tears.  Like sand on the sea shore, or drops in the ocean our hearts and eyes flow with unending tears.  We not only grieve death; we grieve each loss that comes because of that impending death.  We grieve the loss of job, home, friends, family, dreams, hopes, youth, strength, love, freedom, happiness, adventures…the list is endless and it is easy to drown beneath the brutal onslaught of the waves of grief. 

     How do we break free of the bonds of grief? Just think of the expression ‘bonds of grief’ – bonds means that we are shackled to our grief.  Those who have never broken free of grief are chained to the ugliness of death by a heartbreaking inability to deal with the blows of dying and loss. Being chained to bitter grief and anger becomes an ongoing living death to those captured in the fierce talons of grief.  Depression sets in as a constant companion and any joy is only surface pretense.  Grief has bound them in shackles of cruel slavery.  Shackles that bind them beneath the waves of sorrow and drowns any chance of growth and change.  Instead of crying out to God for help, they continually cry out “why” and “I thought you loved me!” and “How could you do this to me?”  It is so easy to go there, and it is so easy to stay mired in that wretched conflict.  At times it may even feel that if we give up our grief, or work our way through it, that we are betraying the love we have for our loved one. 

     My loved one is not my grief.  My faith is not my grief.  Rick does not need my grief to lead to bitterness.  He needs my grief to bring me closer to him, closer to God and accepting this hard journey of a slow death.  Bitterness will blind me to his needs.  Through faith I can accept the pain, the tears, the losses and pour out my heart to God, but I must actively fight bitterness.  One of the best ways to fight anger and bitterness, is to purposely count your blessings every day.  Count the blessings of your past, remember to say thank you as each blessing comes into your mind’s view.  Then look for the small miracles of your present, again say thank you as each one comes to mind.  All that is left is your future.  If God was faithful throughout history, including your past, if He is carrying you at the present – will He not sustain you in your future? Trust and be thankful, bitterness cannot take a foothold in a grateful heart Tears and grief are safe emotions for a heart, but bitterness is poison.

Prayer

Lord thank you so much for the blessings you have showered on me throughout my life.  You have loved me with an everlasting love.  You have been faithful from my youth to old age.  How I rejoice in your faithful love even when my heart is breaking.