Blessed are those that weep……For they will understand.

Your grief makes you understand another’s grief.  Maybe it isn’t exactly the same, but your memory of pain, loss, dejection, and sorrow is something that you can empathize with another person’s situation.  Their pain is something that will resonate with you.  I believe these periods of resonation happen for a reason.  I think that God calls us to a deeper level of understanding and sympathy for a our fellow man who is suffering following our own experiences.  God wants us to share our experiences of loss with others because this is how love grows.  God wants us to share in our grief.

When we grieve, we want someone understand our hurt and pain. We want assurances that everything is going to be okay.  We want to know that someone else believes in us when we really aren’t sure of ourselves.  When we love one another as God has loved us, or love our neighbor as ourselves, we try to understand someone else’s situation as we would have wanted.

When I was diagnosed with cancer, I felt all these things.  I wanted someone to tell me it was all going to be okay (it was); that it wasn’t my fault (it wasn’t); that I wasn’t the only person going through this (I wasn’t); that it was okay to be mad at God (it was); that it completely sucked (it did); and that someone believed in me (they do).  You see, from their own experience they reached out to me.  I feel called from my own grief to reach out to others.  To tell that same message of love, understanding, acceptance, and support.  “I want their hearts to be encouraged and united in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ himself” (Colossians 2:2).  It is through understanding and love others that we have knowledge of Christ.

We experience pain in many ways – emotional, mental, and physical. How do we, as Christians, share our pain with others, particularly with children? To read more about this topic in an essay at Grow Christians, click here. 

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.