The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
They comfort me,
You prepare a table before me
In the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
Psalm 23 (NIV)
It’s heartbreaking to lose someone you love so much. Your load is heavy and there is an ache in your soul. You can’t seem to speak and you have no words. We lost dad very unexpectedly two weeks ago on July 31, 2024. He was going in for a hip replacement and he never came back home. There is no way to brace yourself for such pain. How do you stand firm in times like these? What I do know is that we are not meant to carry this weight all on our own. Our human frames do not have the ability. Life doesn’t always go the way you had planned and it gets interrupted. Where would we be without Him? With Christ, you still have hope in the midst of hopelessness.
Loss is one of life’s hardest moments. It can make us bitter or better. Grief is sorrow, misery, sadness, anguish, pain, distress, agony, torment, affliction, suffering. The list of emotions seem to have no end. The words of Jesus can bring comfort and make even the darkest days of grief and despair seem sunny again when you rest under the comfort of His wings and you know who He is.
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” Rev. 21:4 (NIV). Jesus will show and bring compassion through his unfailing love. He is the resurrection and the life. My father is not physically with us here, but I am confident that he is resting in paradise. We are promised that in knowing and having a relationship with Jesus Christ, our El Shaddai, our Yahweh, our Adonai, our Jehovah Jireh, the King of Kings. “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” Psalm 34:18 (NIV). He is the only one who can redeem life from the grave and swallow up death forever.
When your heart is breaking into a thousand pieces, God is no stranger to the grief and sorrow of this life. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” Matthew 5:4 (NIV).
We will never understand the vastness of God’s timing, but what I do know is that He is standing next to each and every one of us when the fires blaze through your life like a tornado. God does not want us to not have hope. He will take away the sorrow and strengthen us as we bear it. He wants us to transform our grief into hope filled faith. We are fighting battles that He has already won. Jesus has and will overcome all who stand against Him. In times of unbearable grief, find comfort and peace in the promise of our Savior.
