A Recipe for Healing

I’m setting aside my “normal” Monday post and opting to share from my heart. You see, today is a bittersweet day for my family; it is the year anniversary of my dad’s homegoing. If you’ve never lost a loved one, you may be tempted to scroll on, and I understand, but I need to reminisce a bit about this year of God’s goodness and the healing He has brought during grief.

The hardest times have hit when I’ve been in places where my dad had been – in their home, his garage work area, and a Gospel concert. So often I have pictured him in all those places and how he would have responded and what he would have said. Some of those memories brought laughter, some a tear, but both were healing.

I remember one day working on a project in his garage and seeing the CD player that he used to play his Gospel CD’s while he was working, grilling or churning homemade ice cream. I hit the play button and as I listened, I cried probably the hardest cry of the whole year. But it was healing.

One day while cleaning up old emails on my computer, I found forgotten emails that he had sent me over the years. What gifts from the Lord those were! I read his typical words of encouragement and love. I even found a book title that he recommended I write! I read his words of humor, his love for the Lord and the UK Wildcats! His words were healing.

So many mornings when I’ve been praying, I’ve thought of my dad IN God’s presence, and my mind can hardly comprehend it, but I rejoice in that truth! Eternity and the solid assurance of heaven comforts my heart and brings healing. How can I stay heavy hearted knowing that he is healed and with His Savior? I know that soon I will be with him, because Christ is my Savior, too. As I’ve run to Christ in my grief, I have known of His nearness and presence. I read this statement this year, and it was such a blessing:

If you are in Christ, you have a a friend, who in your sorrow will never lob down a pep talk from heaven. He cannot bear to hold Himself at a distance. Nothing can hold him back. His heart is too bound up with yours.

-from Gentle and Lowly, by Dane Ortland

Christ has made Himself so near to me! His nearness brought healing.

It’s one year now and I’m certain there will be tears today, but they won’t be bitter ones. They are tears of a daughter who misses her dad, but dreams of the day when, like God said of Moses, I will be gathered to my people. On that day there will be complete healing for all of my sorrows!

If you’re grieving, I pray that my own testimony and “recipe” for healing will comfort your heart today, too. Simply put:

1. Allow yourself to reminisce and remember old memories; don’t shut them down.
2. Talk about the one you miss. Don’t feel timid about using their name and remembering their life and impact in your life.
3. Allow yourself to cry. It isn’t “un-Christian to grieve!
4. Read things they wrote to you.
5. Think about and meditate on the truth of eternity.
6. Draw near to Christ at every moment of sorrow.

We can’t put a stop watch on grief. It will be different for each person, but this has been how the Lord has comforted me this year. It’s been about running to Christ at the times of my greatest grief. He is the One and the only One Who can get us over our deep sorrow. In so doing, our hearts are drawn closer to Him, and then that turns the grief to joy! The grief won’t be gone forever, but the pain of it will grow more and more manageable each day as my theology teaches my sorrow.

Be comforted; there is healing and refreshment during and after grief.

P.S. Any guesses about the subject matter of the book my dad suggested I write?