Blessed are those that weep…….For they will be cleansed.

Your face is on fire.  It feels both hot and cold, tight and slack.  Your cheek bones burn with heat, and you feel something stuck in the back of your throat.  Your eyes may burn, and your hands, feet, and tips of your ears may feel cold and sensitized, while your heart feels as though it’s burning in your chest.

A tear leaks from the corner of your eye and builds into an onslaught of weeping.

As your breath slows, and your crying ends, you feel good or better, or at least as though a burden has lifted from your shoulders.  There is a period where you feel different after a good cry.  Perhaps you feel somewhat weight-less, or lighter in substance.  You may also feel very tired after this outpouring of grief.

You see, the body is smart.  Weeping is good for you.  Weeping releases toxins from the body. Weeping triggers the release of hormones in the body so that you can be prepared to fight, or flee,  or dig deep for strength depending on the situation.  It sends signals to the body to direct blood flow where it is most needed, thus the feelings of hot and cold and the feelings of nausea and shortness of breath.  These feelings are preparing the body to respond to your grief because the body recognizes these signals that it may be under attack.

When the crying is over, the process releases another set of hormones I like to call feel-good hormones so that you can find a release that translates to joy, thankfulness with being alive, and a sensitivity to all that is around you.  Often at the end of a good cry, we feel hyper-aware of all that is around us.  We see new life, where before there was only darkness.

God made us.  God made this incredible body to respond to all sorts of things in all sorts of ways.  The body is magnificent, even when it is broken, weeping, and under the onslaught of life. God made the body to respond in many ways.  God made the weeping as well as the joy.   Just like the psalmist, we should give thanks to God for both the times of weeping and the times of joy. “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well” (Psalm 139:14).  Take heart in knowing your tears are as much of your design as your joy.

Anna Fitch Courie is an army wife, nurse, layperson, and the author of several books, including the “Christ Walk” series from Church Publishing and the Sally the Comet books from CreateSpace. Anna finds her calling where health and spirituality intersect.  Anna is a registered nurse and worked in health care for the past twenty years. More recently, she has been a consultant on building community coalitions on health. Anna is a graduate of Clemson University, the University of Wyoming, and Education for Ministry at Sewanee: the University of the South. She is currently enrolled at Ohio State University in the Doctoral in Nursing Practice program. Home is wherever the Army (and God) sends her.  You can find her blog at Christ Walk (www.christwalk40day.blogspot.com); on facebook at www.facebook.com/Christwalk40day; on twitter @christwalk1 and on Instagram @christwalk1.