“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” - Jesus Mourning...Sadness...Grief. Feelings every human being will experience on some level in their lifetime. Life has its ways of giving us opportunities to grieve a loss. Yet, no one is really ever an expert in mourning. There are therapists, books and online resources that help guide us through the long journey of grief, but never are we experts.

Jesus’ promise to us is that when we find ourselves mourning, we are blessed with God’s approval and we will know His comfort. But how exactly does God comfort? After all, He doesn’t just show up and give us hugs like a friend would do. No, God comforts us by instilling joy deep within our hearts. David understood this when he wrote, “Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes in the morning” (Ps 30:5).

Do you find yourself grieving today? Deeply saddened by a loss that hurts you to your very core? Allow me the opportunity to offer a couple thoughts on how we might experience God’s comfort and ultimately see that grief can be good.

• Grief is good when we invite others into our grieving. The temptation is to want to be alone and to just “get through this”. The danger in isolating ourselves is when we don’t have someone to talk with, we often develop unhealthy coping mechanisms. Grieving with others fights the pull to avoid feelings and hurts.

• Grief is good in that it reveals to us just how much we loved. When we grieve the loss of someone close to us, we can use that powerful sadness to show us just how much we opened ourselves to the person in love. It tells us that we’re capable of possessing powerful feelings of love for another person and that love brought us immense joy. Therein lies the comfort that God offers us when we mourn...the opportunity to know how deep our love was and the joy we knew and will continue to know because of our time with them.

God is a good Father who will not abandon us when we mourn. In fact, I’m confident today that you will discover Him to be closer to you now, than ever before!

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Rex

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvdHGTuRKJs