Category Archives: Grief

When God Takes It Away

11 Thursday Feb 2016

Posted by in Despair, Faith, Future, Grief

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piano with pearls and daisies

So God took the thing you most loved and you’re never going to get it back.

Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband died; and she was left with her two sons.  Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was bereft of her two children and her husband.  Ruth 1:3-5

Bereft goes beyond grief-stricken. Bereft includes a deep sense of deprivation and irreparable loss.  (Paraphrased from vocabulary.com)

I started playing the piano in third grade and fell in love with it. It was soul-satisfying.  It became part of me.  As opportunities came my way, playing the piano became my God-given ministry. It was a way I loved God and gave of myself to encourage others to love God.  I felt God’s pleasure as I played.

But then God took it away.  I was bereft.

Seven years later, I still don’t understand why God allowed this to happen. It has been a long difficult journey for me as I have grieved this loss and come to accept it as from the hand of God. But God has been with me every step of the journey.  And because of the journey, I am more in love with God today than I ever have been. I enjoy Him more deeply. Perhaps this alone is reason enough.

If you are grieving, seek refuge under the wings of God Almighty. He will love you through your grief.  Ruth 2:12  Do not lose hope. God is with you. God is for you. Nothing can separate you from His love.  Romans 8:31-39

We cannot see the end of our journey but we can see the end of Naomi’s journey. God gave Naomi a son.  Ruth 4:17  He may give me another opportunity to play the piano for His glory and only He knows what He has planned for you!

 

 

 

The Father Has a Plan!

23 Tuesday Jun 2015

Posted by in Encouragement, Grief, Hope

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Although Christ was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. Hebrew 5:8

Christ Jesus humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  Philippians 2:8

Then Jesus said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; Matthew 26:38a

Jesus fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”  Matthew 26:39

Jesus, the perfect holy Son of God, experienced grief beyond description as He approached the time of the crucifixion.  Yet He continued to submit Himself to His Father’s will and plan – His death on the cross. He kept His eyes on His Father at all times.

Life comes at us in mind-numbing, heart-breaking, shocking waves.

  • an absent parent
  • a friend’s betrayal
  • a run-away teenager
  • near fatal accidents
  • painful diseases
  • broken dreams
  • death of a loved one

Unlike Christ, we do not always know what is about to happen.  We do not know all the ups and downs that will be part of the Father’s plan for us.  And that is a blessing.

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What we do know is that if God has brought us to a heart-breaking situation, He will be with us through it all. He will use it for our good. He will mold us and shape us to be more like Him.

Let’s keep our eyes on Him when we don’t understand the what, the when, the where, the how, or the why.  We know the Who.  It is Our Heavenly Father.  And He is working His plan for us and in us at all times.