Are you in the middle of a very difficult season?
We're celebrating the holidays, and it's a wonderful, incredible time of year.
But for many, millions and millions of people, this isn't going to be an easy time of year.
But we have a promise, and that is God is near to those that are grieving, and this
too shall pass.
I want to share some promises with you today from the Word of God.
And you know, when we go through difficult things, there are generally three questions
that kind of pop up on the radar when we're processing our trust in God.
And the first one is, is God good?
And God is good.
There are times we go through things that we don't think that He's good, but after we
get into the other side of it, we see His goodness and mercy.
Another question that we typically ask is, does He really love me?
If He loved me, how could this happen?
And we remember, we live in a fallen world, and we are surrounded by evil.
And there are things that are not of God that happen to good people.
But if you will take it to Him, and if you will trust Him with the pain, He's going to
walk it through with you.
And the third one is, does He know I'm really grieving?
And if you invite Him into the process, it can be one of the most beautiful and intimate
times you'll ever have with the Lord.
And I can say that that is honestly kind of what I experienced when I lost my mother.
It was devastating.
I was in so much unbelievable pain.
It was a pain I'd never experienced before in my life.
And I just kept over and over again just crying out to Him in humility.
And I will say that there are moments in the hospital, tangible moments, where the presence
of God came so heavy that I knew He was with me.
I didn't like what was happening.
I was hurting.
I was upset.
I was devastated.
But I also remember that in the middle of my devastation, He brought such peace.
And His presence was so strong that it's what carried me to the other side.
I've got some beautiful promises for you today, and I just want to read a couple of them with
you.
Psalm 125.4, Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
The Holy Spirit is our comforter.
He comes to us and He heals our broken heart.
Psalms 126.5 says, Those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy.
Take your pain to Him.
Let Him turn it for good.
Psalms 147.3 says, The Lord heals the brokenhearted, and He binds up their wounds.
Psalm 34.18, The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, and He saves those who are crushed in spirit.
First Thessalonians 4.13 talks about how the people of God do not grieve like the rest
of the world because they don't have any hope.
Our hope is eternal hope.
Our hope is knowing that we are going to go on to the other side.
We are going to see those that we love again.
Heaven is real.
Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and we're going to have eternal life with Christ
forever.
One of the books that I have read that have actually helped me process grief is one by
Randy Alcorn, and Randy Alcorn is one of my favorite authors.
This man is an incredible writer.
How he breaks down heaven is from a theological standpoint, not from necessarily I've gone
to heaven and had an experience, but he really breaks it down in terms of what does the Bible
say about heaven and eternity.
For me, when my heart was broken, and I was devastated, and I was wondering about life
on the other side, meditating on heaven and the reality of heaven and the biblical heaven
that we are all going to experience one day brought so much peace.
It's really now one of my favorite books.
When he comes to you and he heals that heart in you, you have the ability to go on.
and strengthen you know your faith in him because he's he's been invited into
the process. The unhealthy way to process grief is to try to numb it or run from
it and if you try to numb it you know most people will take some sort of
substance to to numb that pain and then that can turn into a life-altering
devastating form of addiction and I want to encourage you please don't go there
because your addiction isn't going to just destroy you it's going to destroy
the people that you love the most. It affects everyone that's in your life
please please don't take your pain to a substance that can't really heal the
inner part of you the spiritual reality of you who you are your spirit man Jesus
that is in you the Holy Spirit that dwells in you is the real source of
healing not some sort of artificial substance that could somehow numb the
pain for maybe a couple hours and then you're kind of right back where you left
it isn't healthy and it can really do some serious damage. God is faithful and
he will lead you into his word and he will lead you through promises. Another
season in my life that was painful was when I lost my grandfather and I had a
friend of mine who had purchased for me a Thompson chain Bible and I remember
sitting on my front porch 3600 Jackson Street Sioux City Iowa and opening up a
Bible I really didn't know how to read and I didn't really understand it and I
didn't know where these scriptures were and I I didn't I didn't really
understand God at all but I began to go into these scriptures and I read in the
back in the topical areas certain subjects and the Holy Spirit began to
speak to me and calm me and comfort me and probably one of the most holy things
my friend did for me when I was hurting so bad was he just let me process my
grief. The greatest comfort we have is in each other if you are processing grief
right now or if you know someone who is grieving just being there just listening
just allowing them to talk even if it's nonsense like I was I was saying all
kinds of nonsense and you know my friend just kept reading me more scriptures and
talking to me about heaven and sharing with me the reality that as I look
back on it now that loss became one of those major turning points in my life
that turned for good. That is who God is. He will use people in our life. He will
use those that are around us to comfort us, to encourage us, to show us
unconditional love and to help us process something that is truly
devastating. We have a promise in the word that he will and it comes from
Isaiah 26 3 and this is from Lindsay Van Zael's Kingdom podcast in Hebrew it
means shalom shalom meaning complete wholeness nothing missing nothing broken
this is who you are in Christ and today that is our promise he is our peace he
heals our brokenness he pulls us back together he binds our wounds and we find
total peace in him shalom shalom he is your peace thank you today and you know
as you process this pain and this grief with God don't think for one moment that
others are not watching you your your ability to process this pain and this
grief is being observed by people you don't even know you can't even
comprehend but they're watching you as you go through the heartache
As you go through the discouragement, they're watching you read the word, they're watching
you meditate on heaven, they're watching you do things that are healthy and whole.
And it's ministering to them.
You know, our loved ones who are now in eternity, watching from the grandstands of heaven, according
to the book of Hebrews.
They are cheering us on in our race.
And I can promise you, they do not want you to live in a state of grief.
They want you to continue the good fight.
They want you to stand.
They want you to stand for Christ because they've got the victory.
They're at peace.
They're on the other side.
They are cheering us on.
And we have victory in Jesus and you have victory in Jesus.
And my friend, that is my prayer for you today.
Take it to Christ.
Let him heal you.
He is a good God.
He will restore you.
He is near to you.
He does love you.
And his plans for you are for good and not for evil.
He's going to give you a future and a hope.
Have a great day.