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“O God, my heart is fixed (unmovable- regardless of my
circumstances!); I will sing and give praise…” (Psalm 108:1).

My heart can get fixed on my problems so that I have no
song and no praise, but how desolate I would be if I looked up
and all I could see was the black storm cloud and no hope.

No! I will fix my heart above the cloud, for there the sun is shining
at all times. In my heart I know this is so. It is only when Satan
directs my attention (as I allow him) to the cloud and away from
the sunshine that I know is just above the cloud. Even when I don’t
see the sunshine, it is still there, warming the earth – and me.

“He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.” (Psalm 107.29). “He turneth the wilderness into a standing water,
and dry ground into watersprings” (That must have been quite
a shower in the desert!) (Psalm 107:30).

One of the greatest blessings the Lord has provided for us is our
 free agency or the freedom to choose what we will do. He will not override our decisions. He is as close as we let Him be. If we are
 in a “wilderness,” it is because we will not let Him turn
on the “watersprings.”

I can remember when death struck at the homes of people I
 knew, even my friends, but passed my family by. I would tell
the Lord how thankful I was that all was well with “me and mine,”
 as if that would stay the hand of death from my family! How could
it? The “way of life” includes death.

The “blessed hope” the Christian has is that we don’t cease to
 exist just because our bodies die—we’ve just begun to live!
We are more alive than when our spirits lived in their
houses call “bodies.”

“The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart; and
merciful (kind good) men are taken away, not considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.” (Isaiah 57.1).

Why do we let the death of a loved one disturb us so? When
death knocked at my own family’s door, I began to realize that
I am not an exception, nor is anyone else. “It is appointed unto
men once to die,” so says the Word in Hebrews 9:27. There
are no exceptions. I can’t say that the Lord singled me out to
“take my loved ones away from me.” That attitude is the root
of our grief. We feel the loss keenly, so we are putting ourselves
 in the center of attention. Our grief and sorrow are largely made
 up of self-sympathy—“Why did God do this to me? I miss
them so much!”

When we can recognize that we are considering mostly ourselves
 and our self-pity has overtaken us, we then are in a position to
 overcome our grief. It is difficult sometimes for us to see that our
sorrow is, at least in part, self-sympathy.

Self-centeredness in any form blocks the comforting power of
the Holy Ghost. It is only natural that we feel grief; we are
emotional beings; but when we are consumed by it, we become dysfunctional. If we are blessed to have loving Christian friends
who support us during trying times, it is wonderful; but sometimes
 we find ourselves very much alone with the grief. Ah, but we aren’t alone! Just because another human isn’t available to help us
 shoulder our great sorrow, doesn’t mean we are left without
comfort. Jesus promised to send another “comforter” in the
 person of the Holy Ghost, and He did.

We always have access to that source of power and comfort. And
we CAN make it! The Bible speaks of one who is closer than even
 a brother and would never leave us. Personal experience has
taught me that those words are absolutely true and reliable. He
is always “there.”

Sometimes there are “living deaths.” Broken relationships,
divorce, estrangement from someone who lived in our hearts are
all forms of death and can cause as much grief as their death,
maybe more. We might consider that those living who hurt us
could make it right, but those who have died can do nothing more.
It is true that living deaths can cause us as much grief as the
 physical death of someone we loved. But rest assured that God
knows and cares, and He will get you through it. Where grief is concerned, the only way out is through.

If you are suffering from any kind of sorrow or grief, let pure
Love enfold you and uphold you. There are no real shortcuts
 to working our way through grief, but through it we will go and
come out more understanding and compassionate, with greater
mercy toward others who suffer. We can truthfully say,
“I understand” because we really do. We’ve been there and
 we know God’s formula works. “Casting all your care upon Him,
for He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7 NKJV). In his little book, The
Gentle Art of a Servant’s Heart, Charles Swindoll says, “Mercy
 means the ability to get right inside the other person’s skin—a deliberate effort of the mind and of the will.” When we have
 received mercy, it expands our mercy-well; and we have more
 to bestow on others.

If you are suffering, cast your cares on Jesus. If you have come
 through your season of sadness, be a comforter to those who are just going through. God comforts us, not only to be comforted, but to be comforters as well. Pass it on.

(Most of this was written after my young brother (Kelsey Ray Adams) and Dad (Kelsey G. Adams) died six weeks apart in 1979).
 

Delores Adams
Copyrighted. All rights reserved.


 

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