Losing Someone You Love
Grief is hard, isn’t it? Death impacts us all. We will not be able to escape that reality.
I’ve experienced multiple face-to-face encounters with death in my lifetime thus far. Not only during my time serving as a Hospice nurse but with close family members and friends. Death and the grieving journey are not easy, but I’ve also seen the blessings that can occur during those seasons.
I’ve seen families bind together, folks accepting Christ as their Lord and Savior, and had multiple conversations about what Heaven would be like. I’ve also seen children struggle saying those painful good-byes, and I’ve encountered such anger and despair, almost too much to bear. Emotions may be all over the map yet one thing is similar. The loss hurts.
After losing my spiritual father figure this year, my world felt shaky and uncertain. I couldn’t wrap my head around the suddenness of his death and his family being hundreds of miles away. I’m writing to share that I’m finding bits of hope every day. My answer to the hope has been through worship.
No, it doesn’t bring my loved one back, but I feel closer to Heaven through worship. The perspective moves from me to God. In those moments, I stop feeling sorry for myself.
The ache and the pain of loss don’t go away and it is not minimalized in any way. I’ve learned that the grieving process is individualized. You can be provided all of the tips and information, but at the end of the day, it is still your journey. No one else can do the healing for you. If you find yourself in a season of grief, embrace it. Take in all of the emotions. All of the senses. It is through all of this that you will begin to sort through the pieces and allow healing to take place.
During this season of grief, God is teaching me the importance of being real. Coming to Him with my messy emotions and complicated feelings. He is the only One that can provide true healing and restoration. Worship is healing for me.
During worship, day or night, I can proclaim God’s goodness and faithfulness to us at all times. When things are tough and when things are joyful. And when I don’t have the words to say, simply sitting still in God’s presence is enough. Worship has become my anthem during tough valleys.
My husband introduced me to a song he heard. When he first shared this song with me, it was just a few days before my spiritual father figure’s funeral. I was in the midst of shock and pain. The reality of his death had not sunk in. When I heard the song, I immediately thought of Heaven. I immediately pictured Geary and many of my special family and friends in Heaven, engaging in the eternal worship celebration.
In the days that followed, I played this song numerous times. I still play it today, and when I do, I’m filled with gratitude. My heart is thankful for Heaven and the reunion of joy and worship that will take place for eternity. That gives me hope, even with eyes full of tears and a heart that aches.
“Standing at the end of time
There before the throne of grace
Majesty before my eyes
Let it take my breath away
A million angels fall
Facedown on the floor
All to echo “Holy is the Lord”
My heart can’t help but sing
With all of Heaven's roar
Forever echo Holy is the Lord
What a feeling of Hope. Don’t let me fool you, my heart aches in my loss here on Earth. I’m learning to embrace being real and I am learning to cultivate a heart full of gratitude and love for God. Both in my tough and heart-wrenching moments, but also in times of happiness.
Find Hope in these verses today - 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 NIV
50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”[a]
55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”[b]
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
There will come a day when death, pain, evil, war, sadness, and despair will be no more. Jesus Christ rose from the dead and through his resurrection, he conquered death forever. If that doesn’t give you hope, I don’t know what will. The sheer joy of knowing that one day (soon) everything will be made right and one day (soon) there will be a celebration that will never end.
Losing someone you love is never easy. A journey through grief twists and turns more times than we can sometimes bear. Today, let’s be thankful for a God who sees us in our moments of heartache and longs to provide comfort and healing. May you find peace in God today.
