Taking the steps back from grief……..

I awoke this morning from a dream, as I laid in bed wondering why I had the dream it became clear that it was not for me, but to be shared. God has a message for someone out there, the only thing I can be is obedient and share what came to me. I have no idea why I’m sharing this, but God does and I want to do as He asks. He is assuring me that it is for someone that reads this blog.

Here is the dream. I dreamed that some relatives were visiting at our house when a big storm hit blowing over some trees. The winds were so strong they actually uprooted large trees in our yard.
While walking though the house I found one of my older Aunts weeping and in dispair, she has lost her husband some time back and was still unable to recover from the loss. I asked if I could help her and she angrily reacted that no one cared, that everyone was tired of her continued suffering.
While that was not true, family members were running low on patience as her recovery had been drawn out over a very long period of time. I didn’t know what to say, I knew how she was feeling.
When I lost my father I experienced much the same event in my life. I was very close to my father, he was my role model, the man I wanted to be like, and always felt I could never live up to what he was. As I thought about that time in my life God started to give me something to share with her.
Her loss had been like the fate of those mighty trees that were uprooted by the wind.

This is what He gave me for her. I told her that the kind of loss she had experienced was devastating and it was normal to feel the great emptiness she was feeling, it was nothing to be ashamed of. I shared with her that I wanted her to imagine, if she could talk with her husband one more time, what would he say to her? I could tell she was really thinking about it and then she said, “ I think he would ask me not to suffer, that he was in a better place, that it grieved him to see me this torn up.” I knew that was what God wanted her to know. Then He gave me this to share. I told her I believed she was right that, that is exactly what he would say. I told her that I also believed that she still has work to do here. When we are suffering from loss we are looking inward at the pain we feel, the emptiness we experience. When we are going through that we can’t reach out and be of help to others, we are too focused on ourselves. While this is normal for a period, over time it is destructive, not only to us, but to any service we might be to others that need us.

I told her she had children and grandchildren that loved her and needed her wisdom and love and that they too were suffering watching her be in so much pain. They understood, but missed the person that was now bound in a prison of grief. I told her it was time to ask God to set her free, free to serve him and her family. In giving love to others we regain the love we’ve lost. Life is not about us, it’s about Him and those He sends us out to love and minister to. It’s time to start climbing the stairs to recovery. I believe I could see in her tear filled eyes that she was ready to take the first step up.

I will be traveling all day Monday and will not get home until 1:00 a.m. Tuesday morning, so this will serve as my post for Tuesday. I don’t know why this dream came to me, but the longer I laid in bed thinking about it the more I was being urged by God to get up, unpack the computer and get it down while it was fresh in my mind and in my heart. If you are suffering, whoever you are, know two things; (1) God loves you and His plan for you is for your good and the good of others around you. (2) Loss hurts, but with His love you can and will recover and go on to make a difference in the lives of others. God understand loss better than any of us could ever imagine, He gave up His Only Son for us. He can help you at a time that it seems there is no help. Trust Him,
He will never let you down.

the pilgrim