Grief
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth disappeared, and the sea vanished. And I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared and ready, like a bride dressed to meet her husband. I heard a loud voice speaking from the throne: “Now God's home is with people! He will live with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them, and he will be their God. He will wipe away all tears from their eyes. There will be no more death, no more grief or crying or pain. The old things have disappeared.”
Dear Friends,
About once a year I go through my social media files and remove the names of people with whom I no longer have contact. As I went through my Facebook list, I removed the names of several people who were listed but had passed away. I continued to receive birthday notices from some of these people and it felt kind of weird. Now my files are ‘cleaner’ so to speak.
While I was doing this, my younger daughter called to see what I was up to. I told her I was cleaning up my Facebook account. I told her most of the people had passed away. She said she could not do that.
About a year ago one of her friends passed. He was walking out of a Casino in Saint Louis and two people robbed then shot him. He was part of the group with whom my daughter hung around in high school. His friends were devastated. His fiancé was devasted. His parents and family were devastated. It was hard on all of them.
I could hear her voice shaking. She can’t bring herself to remove him from her friend list.
God promises one day he will remove death and crying, and I assume grief. Until then we will continue to experience the pain of grief.
A good resource to help with grief is a book entitled Good Grief written by the late Granger E. Westberg. It is available in paperback and kindle. He lists the stages of grief as:
Stage One - We Are in a State of Shock
Stage Two - We Express Emotion
Stage Three - We Feel Depressed and Very Lonely
Stage Four - We May Experience Physical Symptoms of Distress
Stage Five - We May Become Panicky
Stage Six - We Feel a Sense of Guilt about the Loss
Stage Seven - We Are Filled with Anger and Resentment Stage
Eight - We Resist Returning
Stage Nine - Gradually Hope Comes Through
Stage Ten - We Struggle to Affirm Reality
Westberg, Granger E.. Good Grief 50th Ann Ed. Fortress Press. Kindle Edition. The original edition came out in 1962.
This book is short and meant for helping individuals as they grieve.
This book is also written to help deal with any loss, not only death.
Maybe it could be of help to you.
Peace,
Ricky Adams
Pastor
Peace Lutheran Church
Mill Valley, California