Through this painful season, I am finally learning the lesson of Job's friends. Their best ministry was done when they simply practiced presence. Once they started trying to explain human suffering and offer profound words, their ministry became misery to Job.
Someone either sent me the following piece or I read it somewhere. I am sorry, but so much of the last 6 weeks seems like a fog. If you sent it to me, thanks.
Please Be Gentle, by Jill B. Englar
Please be gentle with me, for I am grieving.
The sea I swim in is a lonely one, and the shore seems miles away.
Waves of despair numb my soul as I struggle through each day.
My heart is heavy with sorrow.
I want to shout and scream and repeatedly ask "why?"
At times, my grief overwhelms me and I weep bitterly, so great is my loss.
Please don't turn away or tell me to move on with my life.
I must embrace my pain before I can begin to heal.
Companion me through tears and sit with me in loving silence.
Honor where I am in my journey, not where you think I should be.
Listen patiently to my story, I may need to tell it over and over again.
It's how I begin to grasp the enormity of my loss.
Nurture me through the weeks and months ahead.
Forgive me when I seem distant and inconsolable.
I need your support and understanding.
There is no right or wrong way to grieve.
I must find my own path.
Please, will you walk beside me?
7 comments:
I will gladly walk beside you. I love you brother.
Thank you for posting "Please be Gentle".
WOW! That is unbelievably authentic and immeasurably powerful! I love you, friend! Know you are saturated in my prayers, God's Presence, and His machless love. Here is a quote that I paraphrased from a video Lynn Anderson shared with the Highland body on Sunday, March 21, 2010:
On suffering:
"When we suffer and grieve with the knowing assurance of of God's living and Spirit-infused grace parthnering along with the abiding Presence of Christ, suffering is working out securing an immeasurable, unfading, imperishable, and eternal heavenly treasure and everlasting inheritance; furthermore, His glory is given complete access to permeate our deepest oceans of pain in order to ordain our joy when the days begin to shed His light in more gentle but pronounced ways." Lauren Cunningham paraphrasing Lynn Anderson on suffering in the Name of Christ
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted! Blessings in this season!
We will walk with you, one on each side.
Love you
Dianne and John Ross
Rick,
Amen,
Randy
We are here beside you...praying for you constantly.
Rick, We walk silently beside you in prayer for your grief, and for comfort from the only One who can truly give comfort.
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