Losses

You may be tempted to ignore this blog because it doesn’t make you feel good and to just wait for my next blog on “Winning.”  But if you don’t deal with your losses and grief, you could arrest your development and become depressed, bitter, and stuck.  Therefore, I encourage you to resist the temptation to just go out and buy, eat, or do something that makes you feel good in the moment.  Instead, find a caring friend, enjoy some coffee or tea, and walk through this blog together.

As you experience life-altering losses, it’s easy to lose hope and perspective.  It’s easy to be focused on what you lost instead of seeing what you have.  When you lose your job, you wonder if you’ll ever find a good job again.  If you lose your self-control, you may wonder if anyone will trust you again or when you’ll “lose it” again.  If you lose your health, you wonder if you’ll ever feel well again.  If you lose your loved one, life just seems to stop, and every moment reminds you of who you lost.  If you lose your memory or mental health, life becomes scary and overwhelming.  If you’re stuck in your addiction or dysfunctional relationships, you may wonder if life will ever get better.  If you lose your faith in God, yourself, or people, mistrust and discouragement can take over.  If you lose everything, starting over again may seem impossible. 

When you’re full of unanswered questions and prayers, you may feel all alone, but you’re not. God is your ever-present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1).  Peace isn’t the absence of problems; it’s the presence of Jesus with you in the problems.

God forges and forms your character as you endure hardships and losses.  When you stop asking “why” bad things happen and start asking God “what” He is doing through your pain and grief, you open the door for the loving presence of God and people to help carry you through your hardship and losses. 

When you read, “Blessed are you who mourn, for you will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4), you don’t feel good because of what you lost.  You feel comforted and empowered by experiencing God’s presence in the midst of your grief. 

You may feel alone and feel like no one understands what you’re going through.  You may feel stuck and wonder if things will ever get better.  But when you get to the end of yourself and your feelings, and you look up and look around, God is still with you.  You’re not alone.  If you’ve isolated yourself from people who care about you, reach out and let people help you, share your heavy burden, and encourage you (2 Corinthians 1:3-7). 

When I was a young boy who repeatedly lost everything, had no voice, no boundaries, and no vision of life getting any better, God was present even when I didn’t see or feel Him.  My dad wrote a song “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.”  When I heard him singing it, I hated the song.  I didn’t feel any hope, joy, or peace.  I just wanted back what was taken away from me.  My home.  My friends.  My ball teams.  My sense of security and predictability.  But after my dad quit moving and sunk his roots down into God’s marvelous love and community, he changed this tune into a song that everyone who knows him and knows the song loves it.  I call it “the trampoline song.” 

If you’re not too old and not a high fall-risk, imagine you’re at a trampoline park.  You’re with your favorite people who are jumping and flipping upside-down singing together and playfully enjoying the hope and joy and peace that God gives you amidst the reality of what you’ve lost.  God uses people and places and songs of hope to remind you that you’re not alone.

You have been blessed with so much.  When you shift to thanking God and allowing people to brighten and lighten your heavy loads, you start to feel lighter.  When you surrender your life to Christ, along with your pain and problems, you can discover other people who are going through similar challenges whom you can encourage.

Although it blows my mind, when God recorded each of our days and moments in His book before He gave us our first breath, those days and moments are so full of good and bad things that happen to us.

We don’t have to make ourselves miserable focusing on what’s wrong or what’s not working.  Instead, when we look for it, we can find evidence of the goodness of God all over our lives.  I thank God for His constant love and presence that He frequently displays to me through you.  You are a gift from God.  Open and unwrap your life and give it away to those around you who need some hope and joy and encouragement.  Find something good in yourself and in those around you and celebrate God’s goodness.  Watch what happens.

How is God working in and through the losses that you are experiencing?

What are you discovering about God?

What are learning about yourself?

Who needs some encouragement from you today?