{{item.title | uppercase}}

{{item.authdes}}

One of the biggest challenges of grief (at least in my experience) is the feeling of isolation. Though you have many friends and family members who support you, there is always that feeling that no one can truly understand what you are going through.

Whether real or perceived, this is a reality of grief.

There are certain times in our grief that we cannot look to others to console us and comfort us simply because they cannot understand…they do not have the answers we need…the words we need…the comfort we need because they have not experienced what we are experiencing. It is in that unrelatable realm that we must allow HOPE to comfort our hearts and remind us of the One who knows all too well the depths of our loss, anguish, and sorrow.

We are never alone!

Jesus can relate and He is always there to provide for us what others cannot. We must never give in to despair, but rather cling to hope and the One who is our Hope!

A friend texted me this week and drew my attention to a quote by John Piper on hope-filled grief. The quote read,

“There is a paradox in the way God is honored through hope-filled grief. One might think that the only way he could be honored would be to cry less or get over the ache more quickly. But there is another way God is honored in our grieving. When we taste the loss so deeply because we loved so deeply and treasured God’s gift — and God in his gift — so passionately that the loss cuts the deeper and the longer, and yet in and through the depths and the lengths of sorrow we never let go of God, and feel him never letting go of us — in that longer sorrow he is also greatly honored, because the length of it reveals the magnitude of our sense of loss for which we do not forsake God. At every moment of the lengthening grief, we turn to him, not away from him. And therefore, the length of it is a way of showing him to be ever-present, enduringly sufficient.”

His words seemed to echo so much of what God has been speaking to my heart lately…reminding me of the need for hope to FILL the empty places carved in my heart by grief. As my grief lingers and at times takes over like a tsunami, I cling to HOPE…I cling to Him and I remember that He clings to me.

He is indeed “ever present and enduringly sufficient.”

Here is how I picture the effects of grief on the heart:

Some losses are easier to recover from. The object of our loss (be it a person, dream, job, whatever) may not have been deeply rooted in the fabric or our heart. When the loss occurs, only a small void remains and it is easy to fill the void and overcome the grief by focusing on the many other joys of life.

On the other hand, some losses (loss of a child, spouse, loved one) seem like a 100 year old oak tree has been ripped from the soil of our heart, leaving a cavernous, consuming void. Its roots were deeply embedded in every part of our heart. The loss is traumatic…wounding…scarring!

BUT…when we allow HOPE to FILL the enormous void left behind, we can trust that in due time, something beautiful will grow. The soil of HOPE fills the void left by that mighty oak and prepares a place for God to work and plant and grow. Just like a farmer plants his seed in good soil and trusts that something will grow. When we allow HOPE to fill the void in our heart caused by loss, it is not a matter of IF something good will grow in its place…it is just a matter of WHEN.

It is allowing the hope we have in Jesus to FILL the void and allowing God to plant and tend to new dreams and joy and passions and purpose and love that has been lost, and trusting that in due time, something beautiful will grow. Not IF…but WHEN! His timing is perfect and He is faithful to His promise to give us the desires of our heart as we delight in Him. I love that I can ask Him to plant those seeds/desires in my heart. The mighty oak tree that my husband was has been removed, and I am allowing Hope to FILL the void…waiting patiently (not always though) for whatever God plans to grow in its place. And while I wait…I learn more about who He really is, and I rest in His love and grace.

Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.
Psalm 62:5 NIV