Thread by @JAEbberts

There is this natural tendency when you have strong feelings to try and talk yourself out of them.

"Yeah this sucks, but at least it's not as bad as..."

This usually only provides momentary relief while the unaddressed feelings continue to swell.

I find myself doing this now amid my grief.

It's easy to slide into the next distraction, to tell myself "life goes on" and "everyone has trials, suck it up"

But I don't believe we are meant to operate this way.

Grief is patient. It will lie in wait for decades if you allow it to, bubbling up at the first sign that you have relaxed your vigilance.

As difficult as it is, the best practice is to let that train hit you. Embrace the fact that it sucks. That it hurts, that it's not fair. God is a jerk for taking them, why not take someone who deserves it?!
I'm mad, sad, confused. I demand an answer.

Then, after you have faced that part of you that you have been avoiding, something starts to happen.

That fear of breaking down at any mention of the grief starts to wane.

You can start to talk about it. You can start to remember them more fondly and less tearfully

So, have the ugly cry. Fill your face with snot. Shake your fist to the sky and demand an answer.

Own how you feel.

And then allow God to speak peace to your soul.

Allow your pains to be swallowed up in the sweet assurance that Christ knows and can comfort.

We will see our lived ones again. We will know the joy of their embrace and will be grateful for the rest that had received while we continued to labor, and struggle, and fight, and toil.

*loved ones.

Dang it.