Sometimes there are tragedies that completely shake your life. Such has been the case with losing our boy. I’m finding that if the shaking is hard enough it will shatter your heart into a million pieces. Life then becomes a process of picking up those pieces and putting your heart back together. I am convinced that how you view God completely determines what kind of heart you will have once it is all over. Your perception of God is absolutely defining in those times. Who is God? An angry Grinch? A good Father or an unapproachable one? Knowing God’s attributes is crucial to putting your heart back together. The problem then, is that in trial our Enemy’s primary strategy is to get us to take our eyes off God. If he succeeds in that, then he’s well on his way to winning the battle. With that said, the grieving process is necessary. All the steps in the process, I believe, can bring us closer to God.
The steps in the grieving process are:
Shock
Emotional release
Preoccupation with the deceased
Symptoms of some physical and emotional distress
Hostile reactions
Guilt
Depression
Withdrawal
Resolution and readjustment
In this time it’s so crucial to be submersed in Scripture. In the sociological community words are looked at as meaningless until defined, and are defined by indicators. The problem is that in times of tragedy we can so easily take cues from the indicators in the situation to define who God is when God clearly lays out the clear indicators of who He is in His Word. God is 100% of all of His attributes 100% of the time.