Myth #10: Time Heals All Wounds
“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side,
but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”
2 Corinthians 4:7-9
Every one of us will go through some kind of loss in our life. Anything from being let go from a job, a broken relationship, to losing someone you love to death. It is a storm that tosses you about inside and leaves you feeling unsteady and confused. You try to makes sense of it and carry on, but time is NOT the friendly healer you hoped it would be. What do you do with that grief?
A friend of mine lost her husband a short time ago. She recently sent me these excerpts from a book that she has been reading called, When Your Family’s Lost a Loved One: Finding Hope Together.
“There comes a time in our grief that we realize we have to figure out how to keep on living, how to incorporate the loss into our lives. We want to feel normal again, to feel joy again. It is a cruel choice to have to make. It feels completely unfair, but unavoidable. We can either hold on to the pain, accepting its regular doses of misery because it keeps us connected to the loved one we’ve lost–or we can choose to release it, process it, talk about it, cry about it, let it wash over us, and then let it wash away our tears.
We can make the painful choice to let it go–not all at once, but a little every day. We find that we can decide whether or not to let ourselves sink to that place where the flashes of memories and reminder of loss threaten our contentment and composure.
We can begin to make that hard choice. We can begin to let go of our grief so we can grab hold of life and those who are living.
It is choosing to live fully for God, recognizing that there is no real life apart from Him and that anything less is merely existing. It’s trusting God completely with your future and your family’s future, knowing there may be even more loss ahead.
When we lose someone we love, we’re faced with a cruel choice: give in to the weight of sorrow so that we get stuck and never move forward, or summon our energy and courage each morning to keep going and looking for brighter days.
It’s the very thing that Paul experienced when he dealt with his pain and loss. The power that Jesus gives is beyond anything else this world can offer. The question always is… will you turn to Him with your brokenness and allow Him to bring the healing He longs to give you?
Blessings,
Pastor John
