Grace to Grieve

I was caught off guard by my grief this week.

Grief seeped up from the depths of my soul.  Grief from the past reappearing in the present.

Maybe you know the same thing. Maybe not today or this week, but maybe from time to time you have grief that comes out of the blue.  One moment things seem to be humming along and the next it feels as if you are under the heap. Grief is heavy. It hurts.

Grief is real.  We cannot help it.  Our grief is a response to loss. God grieved, too.

Grief is good.  Grief, placed in the hands of God, can be used for good. It draws us closer to Him and His comfort; it gives us a fresh perspective on His love and on His tender loving care of our hearts.

God gives us grace to grieve. I don’t think I always accepted this. I have tried to run from my grief, stuff my grief, ignore my grief, or guilty myself in the feeling that I had no right to have grief.

But His grace – His all-powerful, all-loving grace, that we neither deserve nor can do anything to do get – is present in the lives of those who love Him. And He gives grace to grieve. His grace sustains us through times of sorrow and loss, through times of difficulty, through times when we would much rather pull the covers over our head and stay in bed.

This week, I am trying to accept God’s grace to grieve.

I can’t help the grief. It’s just there.

But the Lord is present, too.

I’m resting in His care and allowing Him to minister to my heart – again.

And in lying back in to His arms, I hear His heartbeat say to me, “Remember, dear child, my grace is all you need. Go ahead and grieve. I’m holding you.  You’re safe with me.”