Bible Study - Grieving God's Way: Fresh Grief

Study: Fresh Grief

VOTD: Matthew 15:29-30-"Jesus...went up on a mountainside and sat down. Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them."

The Healing Process: Jesus went up a mountainside, sat down, and healed everyone who came to Him. It couldn't have been easy for the crippled and blind to journey up a mountain, but it was a necessary part of the healing process. Jesus healed those that reached out to Him, so I don't think we should be afraid to climb the mountain of despair because that is where we will find God's loving arms.

Feel free to Respond

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I like the imagery of this verse. I can just imagine all these people struggling and in pain climbing a mountain to see Jesus. I can imagine them wanting to give up because the pain was too much, but if they would have turned around when they pain got bad then they never would have received healing.

The message of the devotional is so spot on too. In the middle of grief, it's hard to hear that things will get better because you want to believe it, but it's hard to imagine feeling happy again. It's a daily journey to becoming better.

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Day 32 from Grieving God's Way:

"Those of us in grief don't need anyone to tell us the conditions of the path ahead; we don't want to know. We reject, even resent, reports of splendor down the road. "You'll be a better person," on grieving mother told me. "Who cares?" I wanted to yell. "I don't want to be a better person!" "You'll be happy again," a grieving father said. I wanted to scream, "Are you crazy? I will never be happy again!" Fresh grief is no time to find good in the bad. We don't want to know that the view is great or that wonderful things lie ahead. It's hard to see the view when you are blinded by tears. Nor should we try to sort our feelings about God and faith when we can't even determine night from day."

QOTD: What is your favorite Christmas song?

Bible Study - Grieving God's Way: Wednesday Check-in

Ever since I wrote a message on Facebook looking for study ideas for the Bible study that I help lead, I have had a few friends ask if they could be involved.  We start a new study every week on Wednesday, with a check-in on Wednesday, Friday, then Monday. I'll post the check-ins here, so people outside of our forum can participate if they want to.

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Hi ladies,
I got this free book in the mail yesterday called, "Grieving God's Way - The Path to lasting Hope and Healing."  I thought this week, I would share some of it and we could "read" it together.  I pulled out some things to share from what I have read so far.

Study: Grieving God's Way

VOTD: Romans 8:26 - "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness."
Feel free to respond

When a loved one dies, the body reacts with shock.  The circulation slows; we feel cold and disoriented.  Breathing is shallow. After the numbness wears, bones ache and muscles are sore.  Food holds no interest, and though we may fall exhausted into bed each night, we often can't sleep, or we sleep too much.  This is how the body grieves. Grieving God's way requires us to trust that God will lead us through the darkness, heal our pain, take away our weariness, and fill our hearts with hope, peace, and new purpose.

Day 2: "Take a deep breath. If you are grieving a loved one, chances are you haven't taken a breath for quite some time.  The physical and emotional stress of grief can do an enormous amount of harm to the mind and body. We become so caught up in our pain we literally forget to breathe." In both Greek and Hebrew, the word for breath also means spirit.

Studies have shown that deep, slow breathing can strengthen the heart, tone muscles, increase energy, etc.  Shallow breathing, the kind that is prevalent during grief , fills only the upper parts of the body with air.  The headaches, back pain, indigestion, and depression that plague us during the darkest days of grief might simply be our bodies crying out for oxygen.

Question of the Day:

1) How does grief affect you physically and emotionally?