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Have you lost someone dearly that you love?

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Well, it happens to all of us and unfortunately, recently in my family, we have lost someone

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that we love dearly.

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And today I just want to talk a little bit about grief and comfort.

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The Holy Spirit is our comforter.

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He's called the paraclete.

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He comes alongside to help us when we are hurting, when we are grieving, and we're processing

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loss.

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And I can tell you from experience that that is when my love for God and my love for Jesus

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becomes even dearer.

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It's often when I'm going through something that is just so painful, I don't even know

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how to process it.

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My name is Leanne Friesman, and this is Restoring Word, and it's a short devotional that's been

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designed just to encourage you and to speak life into you.

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There are so many verses that deal with comfort in the Bible, and I think probably one of

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the best ones comes right out of Psalms 23, and it's read a lot at memorial services and

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funeral services.

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Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, no evil will come me.

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For you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

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I will fear no evil.

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Isn't that a good word?

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For you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

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The presence of God in your life is the ultimate form of comfort.

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And so when you're hurting, the most important thing I can tell you to do is to run to Jesus.

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Run to the Word of God.

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Begin to meditate on the Word of God, and that really is the one place where you can

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find comfort.

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In John 15, 26, But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father,

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the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he's going to testify of me.

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The real comforter is Jesus, and Jesus will come by the Holy Spirit, and he will fill

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your heart with hope and with life and with an eternal hope that you are going to see

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your loved ones again.

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First Thessalonians 4, 13, But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those

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who have fallen asleep, which is how Thessalonians describes the first death, lest you sorrow

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as those who have no hope.

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The good news is because of Jesus and because of what he did on the cross for us, we are

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going to have eternal life.

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And I want to recommend a book to you today by Randy Elkhorn.

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It's called Heaven by Randy Elkhorn, and I will say that this book is kind of my go-to

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when I'm grieving.

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This book does an in-depth study, a scriptural study, and really answers a lot of those questions

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regarding heaven.

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And when you're hurting and you're thinking about your loved one who is now in, honestly,

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a much better place, they're no longer suffering, they're no longer in pain, going to the Word

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of God and reading about where they are is truly the most comforting thing that you can

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do.

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And then I just kind of want to talk about some natural things about the grief process.

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You're going to grieve.

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There's a healthy way to do it, and there's an unhealthy way to do it.

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And it's unhealthy to deny the process, okay?

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You are going to grieve.

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There are going to be moments where it's going to feel almost unbearable.

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Run to Jesus.

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It does get easier.

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Maybe not immediately.

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Maybe not right away.

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But I can promise you, as you walk it out with Christ, day by day, event by event, it

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is going to get better, I promise.

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How can you process it?

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Well, number one, of course, run to the Word, okay?

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Number two, there are going to be times when the grief is going to be difficult, okay?

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Be prepared for those times, birthdays, anniversaries, holidays.

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Those firsts are often very difficult.

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I can remember when my mom died

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and I was going through my closet one day

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and all of a sudden I was seeing all the beautiful clothes

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that she had purchased for me

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and it just hit me really hard.

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There are going to be times

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where something is going to trigger the hurt

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and it's okay, it's okay.

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It's normal, it's part of that process.

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You're working it out and that's what's most important.

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Second, I think being distracted

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in a healthy way is helpful.

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For me, it was helpful to go back to work.

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It was helpful to meet with friends and family.

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It was helpful to read and to do things

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that were going to enable me to handle the grief.

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It doesn't work that way for everyone,

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but I would say, because honestly,

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when I lost my mom, I would say there was probably

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a good four to six months in there

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that I look back now, I don't even remember.

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That is your conscience's way

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of kind of preserving you from the hurt.

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There are things you're not going to remember.

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There are things that are gonna kind of be numb.

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It's okay, it's all right.

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You're processing it.

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You're gonna come out of it.

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You're going to come out of this in Jesus' name.

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So a healthy distraction, exercise,

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sleep, a good book, a good movie.

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Also, talking about the loved one.

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There are times where you need to talk

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and you need to reminisce and share those memories

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with people who love you and support you

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and who are gonna understand that you're in a process

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and you do need to talk.

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Another great suggestion is start a new tradition.

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Find a healthy way to honor your loved one.

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We started a foundation in honor of my mother

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and it's growing.

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Plant a tree, paint, write a poem.

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Find something healthy that will honor the person

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but also help you process your loss.

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And knowing that you're doing it in a very healthy way.

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Connect with other people that are around you.

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Draw people around you that will help you process.

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Being alone is not healthy when you're grieving.

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You need to have that outlet.

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And being alone and kind of being a loner

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doesn't give you that opportunity to talk.

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All of us need to have an outlet

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because when you talk, you're healing,

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as my husband likes to say.

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When you're talking, you are healing.

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And if you can get it out and you can get it

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in a healthy way, the Holy Spirit then can use

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what you're verbalizing to bring healing.

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Now, when it becomes debilitating,

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when it becomes something that shuts you down

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where you can't function or you can't think,

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then that's unhealthy.

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That's not natural.

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That is not, that's not God.

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We have our eternal hope in Jesus.

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Now, I know it gets hard when you're processing

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the loss of someone and you don't necessarily

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know where they are and that can be very hard.

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But only God knows, really, ultimately.

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And he is our comforter.

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And he ultimately knows where they are.

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So you can't be bothered by it.

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You've gotta go on living.

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And I think another thing that will also help you

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is that your loved one that passed away

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would not want you to just shut down and give up.

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Your loved one would want you to go on

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and to live a life of hope and health

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and healing and to be productive.

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Your loved one would not want you to just shut down

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and not go on living.

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Because their memory lives on inside of you.

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And so when you go on and you are productive,

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they live on through you in their memory.

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Not spiritually, but in memory.

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How they lived and what they did

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and how they impacted others.

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That lives on in how you live and in what you do.

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The Holy Spirit is.

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your comforter. He wants to comfort you. He wants to help carry the burden. The

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definition for paraclete is one who comes alongside to help and that's

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actually the what the comforter the definition for the Holy Spirit is that

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word paraclete and I I like to liken it to someone who comes alongside and

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carries the weight or carries the burden of the hurt for you that's what Jesus

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does for you and you know when you when you grieve in a healthy way it really is

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a testimony of the reality of Jesus in your life you know when when you're

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hurting really really badly and and your faith in Christ is evident to others

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that's how Jesus is honored and glorified and and I want to encourage

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you today though you're brokenhearted he is your comfort he will carry the hurt

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with you yes there's going to be moments where it's hurtful and it's painful but

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like I said earlier it does get easier if you will meditate on the Word of God

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and on the reality of heaven you can go on and live a happy productive life that

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will truly honor and glorify the person that you lost and that you love the most

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thank you for listening thank you for liking and subscribing to this channel

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it helps me grow the channel and I look forward to talking to you again I am

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going to make a broadcast about suicide and at that point I hope you will listen

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as I talk about a very difficult topic thank you for listening and have a great

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day