Today on National Grief Awareness Day, listen in to learn a little awareness on how Christians can gently and carefully support someone through their cutting grief.
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with a word about grief and loss.
I know many people, many friends who have wrestled through deep grief, and one of the most common things they say is, “People really can’t understand what I’m going through. They mean well, and they say well-intentioned things, but it never reaches me where I hurt. And sometimes that makes things harder.” You know, all of us, sooner or later, will be touched with grief. A bitter calamity for which there are no words: maybe a lump where it’s not expected or a child disappearing while at play. A car veering over the yellow line. A devastating diagnosis out of the blue. Or an untimely death of a precious life partner. And when those things occur, it will feel bizarre, and meaningless, and undeserved. You won't perceive it as a test of faith or as the Lord's discipline. You won’t view it as a blessing in disguise or as part of a wondrous plan engineered by a trustworthy God. Instead, the tragedy will attack every conviction you’ve ever held about the goodness of your Lord. I mean, you know him to be gracious and kind 99.99 percent of the time, but, oh, that wretched .01 percent when all appears cruel and unjust.
It’s what happened to my friend Peggy. For nearly thirty-five years, she enjoyed a blissful marriage to her college sweetheart. They had it all, both serving together as top executives in a national media corporation. Her husband Jon was diagnosed early on with Hodgkin’s disease, but they took it in stride. Then, over time it all turned terminal. And I don’t need to share the details. Her husband’s death was painfully slow. And Peggy was numb with grief. She was profoundly lonely, sitting by herself in their big, stately, spacious, and very empty home. It’s what happens when you lose something or someone very precious. Your whole life is turned upside down. Nothing will ever be the same. You are faced with a whole bunch of secondary losses. And gone are your daily routines and rhythms of life. Your plans for the future, they disappear, and maybe so does your income. You no longer have the role that, for so many years, you’ve become accustomed to.
Well, today is National Grief Awareness Day, and I want us to have a little awareness on how we Christians can gently and carefully support someone like Peggy through their cutting grief. What should we say, and not say? What should we do, and what things are there we can do to assuage the loss? And what did Jesus mean when he stated in his most famous sermon, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted?” Well, how can we be conduits of that kind of comfort? In what ways can we be extenders of God’s consolation? When it comes to deep grief like Peggy’s, how can we get ourselves out of the way and invite the Holy Spirit to use us as a soothing balm of true encouragement? Well, I have a resource that answers these questions, at least in part. In fact, it is my gift to you today, and it’s called “Comfort for Loss.” It even shows you how to journey with someone as they slowly move forward into their new and very different life. Again, it is called “Comfort for Loss” and you can get your copy at joniradio.org. Just click on Today’s Gift for all the details. Grief does not have to fracture someone’s faith; ultimately, it can lead to a far more intimate faith in the Lord Jesus, the one who knows what to say to anyone who is suffering. So, on this Grief Awareness Day, find out how you can help at joniradio.org. That’s your good word today from Joni Eareckson Tada Sharing Hope.
© Joni and Friends