I Seriously Doubt...

I have been following a family for quite some time now on FB...they tragically lost their two year old daughter, on Christmas Eve, in a swing set accident.  The mother is an amazing writer- she is able to honestly share her journey with grief, and I have found such inspiration from her walk with God.  Their family was part of a sermon on their church today, and I have linked it below.  It is 45 minutes..but both Peter and I listened to the message tonight- what an impact.  I've summarized the pastor's highlights below...if you get a chance to watch the video, it is well worth it!

 I seriously doubt I will ever get over this-

how do you get through loss?  Through grief?  Through anger?

There are four teachings to guide through a  better understanding:

 1) God allows ADVERSITY but he is not the author of Evil

2) God LIMITS the amount of Adversity so that we CAN overcome it.

                                               Every challenge we face is survivable in the presence of Christ.

3) God makes himself completely AVAILABLE to us during these awful times.

                                               Sometimes we want to ask , "God, are you really as far away as you feel?"

                                               PSLAM 34- God is especially near to those who are hurting.

4) God  is totally committed to forming something GREAT and WORTHWHILE out of the heartbreak and hardships of my life.

                                           

So he wanted everyone to think about these three questions to help deal with grief:

1)      What do I believe?

2)      How do I grieve?  Jesus went to one funeral in his life and he cried…if the son of God needed to let it out, we can too. People fear they will be swallowed up in the grief.  We all mourn differently. 

3)      Who do we lean on?  The ways of Jesus cannot be lived alone.

Find a way to serve.

Empty your heart in worship and your heart will be fuller. 

 Stand firm.  Always give yourself to the work of the Lord, b/c you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

He’s bigger than your anger.  He will give you freedom from the anger.  He grieves with us, and takes our doubts, hurts, our weaknesses, and he begins to heal us.  I give it to you- and I thank you for healing me. Help us to help others.  The pain is real, but so is your presence. 



I loved his message, and hearing from a family who has made it- even though we share different stories of loss, we all need to lean on the same God to give us the strength we need to help others. 

Stand strong.

Stand firm in faith.

Believe.

We will never get over our battle with Autism, but I seriously doubt we will ever fight alone.

 

 

Coastal Church

Checkout Dave and Amy Grote story from week 4 of "I Seriously Doubt". To see the full message visit www.coastalchurch.tv

                              

 

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