Hope in Mourning

       I know in time it will get easier, in time the heart ache won't be so raw or as painful. Loss is nothing new to me, it's a process I have repeated more times than I count in my young life, but losing my grandfather cuts deep. I have no doubts of where he is, I have no doubts of seeing him again someday, but I miss him. Yesterday watching as they lowered his body into the ground and covered the metal casing with dirt I thought my heart would burst. I didn't want to leave him, I wanted to stay there all day at the cemetery so he wouldn't be alone. But that was crazy, he isn't there anymore.
      Grief is funny that way, it makes you want to do strange things even if you know in your heart and mind the truth of the situation, or that the actions you want to take won't make a difference. For example one of my cousins got in a tussle with his brother, the grief they felt caused hurt and anger, they had nothing to do with it but fight each other. My brother shaved his head, and my dad and mom have thrown themselves into working and keeping busy, where as my little sister and I have pulled away from everyone. We shut down and have become even more quiet than we are already are. Everyone grieves differently. We all go through stages and need different things to help heal, we all need comfort and support, but the way we ask and deal with our grief is different. I saw this clearly over the course of this week.
         Going through this loss and watching the different reactions of my family members I'm more grateful than ever for the comfort I have in Yeshua. I'm grateful for my family in Christ who have encouraged me in this time and comforted my aching heart. I'm grateful to have the hope and assurance of knowing that good-bye isn't forever, it's only 'til we meet again' but it also makes me sad for those who don't have this blessed gift. I think about what I'm going through and the comfort and hope I have, and I feel sad for those who don't know that this is open to them too. I wonder how someone can manage the heartache believing good-bye is forever, or that this life on earth is all there is. Today thinking of these people grieving loss without hope, I ask you, my family in Jesus Christ to pray for them with me. I ask you to pray comfort, blessing, and awakening to the eternal hope we have in our Lord, the everlasting God Yahweh who promises comfort for the mourning. I ask we pray that there be arms to hold these people and plant the seeds of hope in their hearts, or that you yourself be that person. In Yeshua's name be blessed my friends.  

Ecclesiastes 3:1-14

1 There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under the heavens:

2 a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3 a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

6 a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7 a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8 a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

9 What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet^a no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13 That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him

Isaiah 53:4-6
4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.