It’s over 20 years since I received the late-night phone call to tell me that my younger brother’s plane had gone down, crashing with no survivors. I still remember my family’s voices as I rang each member to tell them the news, my Mum’s face as she processed the loss of her only son and the gnawing hole I instantly felt forming in my stomach. Grief is cruel and indiscriminate in whom it chooses to visit, and we were its target that night.
I remember walking out my back door after a sleepless night and stopping to watch the sunrise on what should have been a perfect spring day and how I suddenly 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 rhythm, and unfortunately, we do have to walk through it to ever be healthy, rather than try to bury or avoid facing its pain.
I’ve experienced enough to conclude that a key to walking out life’s journey well is choosing to run to Jesus rather than away from him, especially 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 breathe. Jesus wants us to give Him every weight and allow Him to pour healing ointment onto our wounds so that we can be whole again. (Isaiah 53:4. 2 Peter 5:7 NIV)
I can testify that as you continue to walk with Jesus daily and allow Him into the places of your heart and mind that hurt, that time will heal your wounds.
It’s not time measured by days and months on the calendar, but rather time spent with Jesus in His presence. It’s time in His Word and promises, time to let 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 will feel and look different but can still be full of joy.
Our hearts are never quite the same when we lose someone or something, but they are designed to heal and, as a result of our experiences, increase in their capacity to love and keep on living. That through it all we will become more compassionate, wiser and loving as we keep our hearts soft and open to God’s loving hand and guidance.
Today whatever you may be going through, I want to encourage you that time does heal wounds if you will allow that time to be with Jesus and to continually walk with Him through whatever you are facing. It may be really hard for a while, but you will be okay with Jesus by your side.
“He heals the wounds of every shattered heart. He sets his stars in place, calling them all by their names. How great is our God! There’s absolutely nothing his power cannot accomplish, and he has infinite understanding of everything.” (Psalm 147:3-5 TPT)
“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 and 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 restore my hope. Thank you for walking with me today. In Jesus name Amen.
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