It’s 20 years ago today that we got the phone call in the early hours of the morning to notify our family that my younger brother’s plane had gone down, crashing with no survivors. I still remember my Mum’s face on hearing the news and the gnawing hole I instantly felt forming in the pit of my stomach. Grief is cruel and indiscriminate in whom it chooses to visit and we were it’s target that day.
I remember walking out my back door a few minutes after hearing the news and stopping to watch the sun rise on what should have been a perfect spring day. Suddenly I felt God’s presence clothe me like a blanket and his voice whisper to me, “It’s going to be really hard for a while, but it’s going to be okay.”
I held onto those words often over the following days and months as the effect of a family losing their only brother and son took its toll. Grief has its own rhythm and if we are going to come out the other side we will have to walk through it, rather than try to bury or avoid facing grief’s pain.
I’ve watched, listened and experienced enough to conclude that a key to walking out life’s journey well is to run to Jesus rather than away from him when we are struggling with pain and loss. One of the big things He did on the Cross when he suffered, died and rose again was to carry the weight of our grief, sorrow and pain. That means because He bore it, we don’t have to. We will feel the loss, but it doesn’t have to be this horrendous sorrow and burden that threatens to overwhelm us and cause us to feel like we can hardly breath. Jesus wants us to give Him every weight and to allow Him to pour healing ointment on our wounds. (Isaiah 53:4. 2 Peter 5:7)
Today as I remember my brother and give thanks that He has a home in heaven, I can testify that if you walk with Jesus every day and allow Him into the places of your heart and mind that hurt, then time will heal your wounds. Time spent in His presence, time in His Word and promises, time letting Jesus touch the loss and pain in your heart, time to feel His comfort and time to put the past to rest and look to a future that is different but can still be full of joy.
Our hearts will never be quite the same when we lose someone or something in life, but our hearts and lives are designed to grow. To increase to be more compassionate, wiser and loving through what we experience, if we will keep soft and open to God’s loving hand and guidance.
Today whatever you may be going through I wanted to encourage you that time does heal our wounds if we allow Jesus to continually walk with us through whatever we are facing. It may be really hard for a while, but with Him by your side you are going to be okay.
“Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5)
“You have turned my mourning into dancing for me; You have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy. That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.” (Psalm 30:11-12)
“(Jesus) was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:4)
Prayer: Lord thank you that with you working in my life, time will heal my wounds. Time spent in your presence, time spent in your word and time allowing you to heal my heart and to restore my hope. Thank you for walking with me today. In Jesus name Amen.
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