When Someone We Love Dies, We have a New Relationship with the World!

When someone we love is snatched away from us by death, we often wonder, “Is there ever going to be any relief from this pain? Is there any place that I can go to find some relief from the loneliness? Will I ever feel like smiling again?”

What we long for the most is for our world to return back to how it used to be. We miss the sounds, the smells, the laughter, the activities that now seem so far away. We wish that we had never taken life for granted, and we long to savor those moments that we once had. We miss life as it used to be!

Deep within our heart, we know that the world as we once knew it no longer exits. Our grief experience has changed our world, not just for today, but forever. Yet, we continue trying to remember. We keep trying to make things as they were. We keep praying that something will happen to give us back that same joy, those same experiences…………..we wish and we hope, but we know that can never be.

Little by little we grow braver in facing our new life, and we realize that we now have a new relationship with the one who has died. And, we have a new relationship with the world, as well as with ourselves. We realize we are no longer in the past, but we have come face-to-face with making a choice to keep moving in the only direction that is an option of us – forward. We slowly move forward into new territory, a new land, and new place and we do so with an inner strength called HOPE. And, deep inside our soul, we know we’ll make it! --Clara Hinton

“I will wait for the light to break through the darkness because I know that eventually the clouds will part.” --Clara Hinton

“I waited patiently for the Lord, and ………He put a new song in my mouth.” - Psalm 40: 1a and 3 a

Are You Tired of Feeling Tired?

Are you tired of feeling tired? Are you waiting for the next piece of bad news to hit? Do you feel like the storm is never going to pass? Has life hurt you so much that you’re too afraid to let go and try to feel again? If you answered “yes”, then you are in the middle of a full-blown grief attack.

Grief comes at us with a vengeance, and it immobilizes us for a while. We don’t know what to think – sometimes we don’t even know how to think. We don’t know who to call on that can really listen and understand. We’re all mixed up and we know that life is terribly off-balance and will never feel the same again. So………what do we do?

When you are in the black hole of despair, it is so important that you lift your eyes upward toward the heavens. After all, that’s where you can find light. There are displays of power and strength all around us, and that’s what we need when we are feeling battered and bruised from the battle fatigue of grief.

We may not know we have it until we’re deep into the race, but we do have the inner strength to get through the dark days of grief. That strength is called hope. HOPE. Hope gives us the strength to peek into the future with a new view. It helps us to hold on when all sense tells us to give up. It helps us to see that there is light at the end of the tunnel. It helps us to not give up.

When the load feels far too heavy to carry, lay it down and rest. Rest today. Rest tomorrow. Rest the next day. And, as you rest, your hope will build up inside until it can carry you through! -- Clara Hinton

“Hope is that invisible force that keeps us strong when we feel like all strength is gone.” -- Clara Hinton

“Even when the way goes through Death Valley, I’m not afraid when you walk by my side.” --Psalm 23: 3 (The Message)

Faith is Believing Your Rainbow Will Appear!

Sometimes things happen to us that cause us to ask, “Why, God?” and all we can do is look to Him in faith. We don’t understand. We can’t understand. We get no answers that seem to fit the pain that we are going through. And, so we hold on. We hold on tight, hoping and praying that we’ll make it through just one more lonely night.

Nobody really has the answers – at least not the ones we’re looking for. Not the answers we want so desperately to hear. There is no easy way out of pain. It takes courage and stamina to withstand the daily drain – the reminders, the regrets, the agony of losing what is precious to us. Yet……we still hold on. We know that God is sovereign and He is still in charge, even when our world is spinning out of control.

We may not know we have it until we are well into the race, but when we find the strength to go on, we begin to understand that inner strength. It is called hope. Hope meets our greatest needs and keeps us going when our own strength fails.

Hold on. Don’t give up. Believe that your rainbow will appear because it surely will! --Clara Hinton

“Hope is believing when nothing at all makes sense.” --Clara Hinton

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.” - Psalm 91:1