The Journey to Wholeness

Grief is a normal part of life. Dealing with grief is the only way to return to a normal perspective on life.

Face Grief
God created us with the capacity to love deeply. The pain we feel when one we love dearly leaves us is normal. Thus grief must be faced, processed, and experienced before we can return to emotional balance.

Voice Grief
Friends responded from all directions. Rather than give the old “stiff upper lip,” share tears and thoughts with them, express your uncertainty about the days ahead, and accepted each expression of concern with gratitude. To do otherwise is to deny the pain and sense of loss.

Pray about Grief
We are reminded in Scripture that Jesus experienced each pain we feel. Jesus’ grief was deep and real when He stood before the tomb containing Lazarus.

Express Grief
Continue to express your thoughts and feelings in a more personal way by buying a blank journal and do the following:

• Express your feelings—the real feelings—in your own words.
• Write them in letter form.
• Address the letters to your lost loved one. If you cannot do that, write them to yourself, God, one of your children, or someone else.
• In those letters, express your feelings, regardless of what you feel. Treat these letters as a written form of expressing your feelings.
• Accept your feelings. Whether mad, sad, happy, or whatever you feel, write them down.
• Write daily. At least once each day, write your feelings in the journal, more if you choose. The journal is for you, not for anyone else. No one needs to see these letters unless you chose to share them with others.
• Reread letters periodically. You can measure your growth progress in working through grief when you can compare how you feel now with how you felt three or four weeks ago.

Remember Grief
One of the truly interesting insights you will gain through this experience is how much you need to help others walking the path you now are following. You need to find ways to touch the lives of others who are facing grief and pain. As you minister to others in time of death, you will feel grief again, but in a new way. You will remember how others ministered to you in a time when her world was forever changed.

Taken from article written by Richard E. Dodge