The Christmas holiday is a wonderful time of year to celebrate, reminisce, reflect and be thankful for all that God has done for us throughout the year. It is by far my favorite time of year.
Unfortunately, not everyone is celebrating and rejoicing. Many have suffered great loss this year. Their lives have been devastated and turned upside down and inside out from the pandemic.
Thousands have lost loved ones and their hearts are aching with grief, all the while trying to move forward as best they can. This letter is for you.
Let me start by saying that Our Heavenly Father wants to comfort and heal your heart. He wants to restore your soul and restore your hope. He has not forgotten you—He wants to pour in His love and comfort into your heart and heal you from every trace of grief and sadness!
Without God’s help, people get stuck in grief and never find their way out. This reminds me of a conversation I had with one of my college professors many years ago. I had shared about the loss of my 25-year-old daughter just two years earlier. He listened intently to my story and then shared his own story about the loss of his adult son.
My heart went out to him–it was obvious that he loved his son very much. His son’s death must have been recent, I thought to myself. But when I asked how long ago his son had passed away, he answered–20 years ago.
I could hear the deep pain in his voice as he shared the details surrounding his son’s death. It was sad to hear about his son but equally as sad to realize that this man had been grieving the loss of his son for all those years. 20 years is a long time to be in grief.
This is not the Father’s way and it is not the Father’s heart. The Lord wants to comfort you, heal you, and restore your soul and your life. I was honored that my profession let me pray for him that day.
I remember walking away from that conversation and praying from my heart, asking God to please heal my professor friend and heal me from grief. I knew I would not survive grieving and hurting for that long.
And I knew that it was not the Father’s heart for his children to grieve and be in that much emotional pain without the hope of being restored to wholeness again.
What I have learned from my grief journey is that grief wants to linger around and terrorize your soul, your heart and your life. If grief is given complete liberty to take whatever course it wants to take, for however long– grief will consume your life like my professor friend.
Grief will never leave if you do not deny its right to exist in your life.
In the book of Isaiah, the scriptures tell us that Jesus bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. The day came in my own life that I read the scriptures about grief and came to this conclusion: If Jesus carried this for me, that means that I do not have to carry grief or tolerate it in my life.
Isaiah 53:3-5 KJV He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely, he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did not esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
I learned that I could say no to grief and yes to the comfort and ministry of the Holy Spirit. I learned that I could receive the love of the Father to heal my heart. This was all part of my covenant rights as a believer.
Grief does not belong to you. It was destroyed at Calvary by the powerful blood of Jesus Christ. It was nailed to the Cross as part of the curse.
The bible says that those that mourn shall be comforted. The Lord blesses those who mourn by comforting them. Notice that it does not say that those that grieve will be comforted.
I believe that mourning has an expiration date while grieving, if left unchallenged and unhealed, can go on forever.
Matthew 5:4 NIV Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
I encourage you today, by the grace of God, to take your grief to the Cross and leave it there. Lay it at the feet of Jesus.
There is a more excellent way–the God of All Comfort has a prescription to heal your heart and restore your soul and life.
4 Things to Consider & Ponder
Here are 4 things to consider and ponder as you open your heart to Father God and ask Him to completely heal you from grief:
FIRST: The Lord always has a pathway, timeline and way out. When we lose a loved one, God is not testing us or trying to teach us something but in the midst of our pain, the Lord is there to restore us and give us a pathway to healing. The testing here is the testing of our faith.
1 Corinthians 10:13 TPT We all experience times of testing, which is normal to every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously.
SECOND: You can find healing and comfort in the Father’s love. He knows what you are going through and is there to help you. Instead of turning inward to grief, we can turn our hearts to Papa God and receive healing, comfort and renewed strength.
Remember that the Holy Spirit does the work—we do the receiving.
2 Corinthians 1:2 TPT All praises belong to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he is the Father of tender mercy and the God of endless comfort. He always comes alongside us to comfort us in every suffering so that we can come alongside those who are in painful trial. We can bring them this same comfort that God has poured out upon us.
THIRD: Jesus has been touched with the feelings of our infirmities—He is there to minister to your heart! The Holy Spirit is there to help you. Angels have been dispatched and assigned to you to minister to your deepest needs.
You have amazing heavenly resources available to you!
Hebrews 4:14-16 TPT So then, we must cling in faith to all that we know to be true. For we have a magnificent King-Priest, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who rose into the heavenly realm for us, and now sympathizes with us in our frailty. He understands humanity, for as a Man, our magnificent King-Priest was tempted in every way just as we are, and conquered sin. So now we come freely and boldly to where love is enthroned, to receive mercy’s kiss and discover the grace we urgently need to strengthen us in our time of weakness.
Hebrews 1:14 TPT What role then, do the angels have? The angels are spirit-messengers sent by God to serve those who are going to be saved.
FOURTH: There is hope in all that you are going through. God has a plan and purpose for you and there is new life and a new beginning and path forward for you. Your God-given assignment is not over. You have much more to accomplish in this life! Do not give up—there is an expected end to grief through the power of the Holy Ghost!
Romans 15:13 KJV Now the God of all hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
Jeremiah 29:11 KJV For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
I believe that Father God is reaching out to you and speaking to your heart today. Take a moment to pray this short prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father, I open my heart to you and ask the Holy Spirit to heal my heart from grief. I command the spirit of grief to leave me now in Jesus’ name. I receive healing and I receive the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Thank you, Heavenly Father, that you promised that those who mourn will be comforted. Comfort me Father. Fill my heart with Your love and peace today in Jesus’ name!
We are praying for you and lifting you up before the Lord!
Remember that God is Good, and He is always working things out for your good!
Please forward this to someone who is grieving.
Love, Peace & Comfort,
Doris Bell Lang