Inescapable loss. All-Sufficient God.
Loss. This week it will penetrate every life. Whether the bitter loss of seeing your candidate lose in the national elections tomorrow, or the mundane loss of everyday life.
Then there are those who will be crushed by a deep loss.
It is for those I have written the book After Loss: courage and healing through God’s grace. I look forward to having this book in print (probably sometime in December or January) so I can share it with those going through devastating loss.
In the meantime, I’d like to share some of the book's content. If you know of someone grieving a loss, please pass this introduction and first reading on to them.
Loss 101
Loss steamrolls its way into our lives. Decimates our world. Leaves our minds in a fog. Pain and confusion beyond comprehension slam into our beings.
Whether it was a relationship or a comfort ripped from our hearts, we suddenly realize how precious that existence was to us.
Walk with me as we journey through deep loss. As we navigate through the pitfalls of grief. As we choose courage and healing.
Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD! Psalm 31:24
Shock
Loss. Deep, devastating, all-encompassing loss.
It sucks you in, chews you up, and spits you out.
It blankets you in mind-numbing shock, yet torments you with shards of memories—images, words, and emotions.
It hurtles body, soul, and spirit through what you were never created to experience—or survive. Your mind freezes, unable to comprehend such enormity. Your emotions whirl from intense grief to anger to frustration to … nothingness. Your spirit struggles, in vain, to get a grip, to trust God.
You are on a journey. Every excruciating step, sometimes forward, sometimes back, leaves you gasping for breath. Looking for hope. Wondering if you can go on.
You want a way out. Now. But none exists. That realization may fuel rage, deliver you to despair, or engulf you with helplessness.
All seems lost. All, that is, except for Jesus.
Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. Psalm 30:5
Jesus is our peace. Jesus holds our eternal destiny. Jesus is our refuge. Jesus loves us as His special creation. Jesus will never leave us. Jesus is enough. Jesus. Is.
