I’m blessed to work a full time job in downtown Indianapolis for a financial securities firm. Its home office is in San Diego California. Today, Adrian, a 36 year old man from the home office called and I was blessed with the opportunity to answer his call. We spoke for about 10 to 15 minutes and I learned that he grew up in the neighboring city from me of Cerritos, California. I grew up in Bellflower. We talked about the weather and the ocean breeze. There was unexpected beauty in traveling down the memory lane of my youth and the recognition of how far we’ve come. Sometimes memories are so much better than the reality lived. As we continued to converse we discussed our childhood upbringings and how the cities we grew up in are sadly not as they once were. Adrian described many well-known businesses that went out of business and we both questioned how the ones that remain opened have done so. To listen to us describe what our childhood cities now looked like sounded as though we were describing a ghost town where you could watch the tumbleweeds roll by.
Sensitivity is not my strongest attribute. I’ve been blessed with spiritual discernment and can recognize a grieving soul. Adrian needed to talk and was searching for someone willing to listen. He went on to explain he had recently lost his father to a heart attack. He was disappointed at the unbelief of people that his father’s passing was a result of a heart attack and nothing more. He stated his appreciation of our like mindedness in this area.
This past year we as a nation have endured the loss of many loved ones from a plethora of causes. Some have lost loved ones from car accidents, kidney complications, cancers, heart attacks, strokes, suicides, drug overdoses, liver failures due to alcoholism, miscarriages / pregnancy complications, and for some it was simply their time.
A dear friend of mine lost a loved one this past week. She believes the lie that she needs to remain strong for her surviving friend. She pours herself out into the life of her friend who shares the burden of the loss with her. Now having been away a few days from the revelation of the truth of God’s Word her spirit is running empty. This world tells you to be strong. The Bible says to grieve and lament. Grief, as painful a season as it is, is a necessary part of our healing. To run from grief is to run from the very thing that can quell the pain of our loss. If we come to God and use Bible verses and prayer for healing, our grief has a purpose. Grieving is the process God uses to bring us to a place of wholeness. Grieving can be the most difficult time for people. Trying to balance the feelings of pain and loss while going forward with your everyday life is difficult. Give yourself space and time. Be honest with your emotions. Most importantly, don’t grieve alone, and don’t lose hope.
If you need someone to grieve with please reach out to us. If you need community and people to be around, please join us anytime on Sundays at Mercy Road Church Northeast – 611 Vitality Drive Fortville, IN 46040 – or once a month at The Mercy Table events and we will gladly share a meal with you.
John 16:22
22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.
Philippians 4:13
13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Revelation 21:4
4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
Psalm 34:18
18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalm 147:3
3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
Psalm 73:26
26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so, we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Romans 8:28
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Matthew 5:4
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
2 Corinthians 1:3-7
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in your patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
Psalm 19
1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. 3 They have no speech; they use no words; no sound is heard from them. 4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. 5 It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. 6 It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth. 7 The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. 8 The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. 9 The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the LORD are firm, and all of them are righteous. 10 They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. 11 By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward. 12 But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults. 13 Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression. 14 May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock, and my Redeemer.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-14
1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: 2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, 6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, 7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, 8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. 9 What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13 That each of them may eat and drink and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.
The Mercy Table 