Hello.
Perhaps tremendous loss has rocked your world in some way. Your life will never be the same.
Why has God allowed such a thing? Does it mean He really isn't "good"? You say, 'Why, I am a devoted Christian! How could God do this? Oh I know, I know he did not do it, but then why did he allow it to happen?!'
I wish I knew. I wish I could give you an answer - maybe a big picture answer that would bring sense to your loss or that would placate your doubts and bring peace to your grieving, sometimes angry heart. I cannot, because I do not know. But this is what I know:
->We will never understand God's ways or we would be God.
->God can handle your doubts and he welcomes your grieving prayers
->He alone can give you peace.
You have choices when it comes to your response to your loss. Absent trusting God, you will default to various coping mechanisms, trying to make yourself feel better. You could get drunk or high, go on one long, punishing run after another, trying to quiet your mind or still the sound of your breaking heart. You might crawl into bed, pull the covers over your head, try to sleep and shut everything and everyone out, hoping against hope, that the world will be different when you wake up! Or you try to get through your pain and fear by clinging to loved ones, afraid to be alone . . . or any number of other things. But is there a better way? I believe so.
As God’s children, you and I need to maintain a basic framework from which we will not be shaken--a strong core which we may need to be reminded of when heartache or suffering comes, but which will not be destroyed.
This will be new for some, a reminder for others of us about how to think:
Because I am a child of God, I will choose to remember:
--God loves me, and he is faithful. His heart toward me is always GOOD.
Scripture says, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness…The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”1
read it again.
--Whatever tragedy or trauma has occurred in your life has not caught God off guard.
How do I know that? Because God never slumbers nor sleeps!2
To whom or what will you turn for direction and for comfort? The choice is, of course, yours . . . you alone can choose your response.
--Every time heartbreak enters your life, you have an opportunity to turn to God for him to work.
Remember and believe that God’s heart toward you is good, that he loves you, and that you should maintain an attitude of praise toward him. Job said it well, “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.”3
‘But I cannot do it,’ the wife screams in her fear of the future without her longtime husband… Yes, you can!! Run to Jesus, throw yourself upon his breast. Cry out to him; he is there for you and with you. Turn to God for help, and then stand on the truth that, as Paul said from prison,
“I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength"!4
And, then what?
--Turn to God for direction and wisdom
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; don’t just trust your own thinking.5
Ask God for wisdom, and he will give it to you. Period. Then, believe he has and is giving you the wisdom you require for next steps in your situation. Take baby steps.
Is that all? Of course not, but these compile a great framework for Christians to access. One more thing—
--Take one day at a time.
“Do not worry about tomorrow for it has cares enough of its own.”6
God will give you strength for today; his grace is sufficient.
‘Want to radically change your viewpoint? Memorize these Scriptures, so you have them—then no one or no thing can take them from you. Hit the reset button – do not forget who you are and whose you are … you are loved by God beyond what you can ever comprehend. It is true whether or not you "feel" it. Feelings are secondary to truth. God is in this story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJBqKLn3dmE He is worthy of our trust - no matter our circumstances. Christine 1 - Lamentations 3.22,23,25,26 2 - Psalm 121.4 3 - Job 1.21 4 - Philippians 4:13 5 - Proverbs 3.5 6 - Matthew 6.3