Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose”

If its not good, its not done

One thing I am finding out is that the verse above, is so true. God works all things out for our good- this is the inheritance of those who love God. And this should produce hope. That if it’s not good, it’s not done yet. I know I have heard that phrase somewhere. It resonates with me today because so many things have worked out for my good. SO many things I dreaded and feared did work out. Moving to Colorado on my own at 22 worked out! My crush breaking my heart, eventually worked out. Me feeling directionless and lost about my life worked itself out.Maybe not in the way I wanted, but I believe for the best.

How many thing that we grieved, opened the door to something new? How many heartbreaks, setbacks, disappointments were just a push or nudge to something better. Something we could never conceive but something good. When I say good, I don’t mean comfortable or even a feeling of good. I mean it overall led to the betterment of your life. It changed your perspective and more so changed you.

Grief Reveals our capacity to love

For too long I have grieved without hope. Too afraid to believe good was on the other side because of the current pain I was feeling. And while the pain of loss occurred, it’s not the only thing there. Grief can be painful, but it shows us how much love we had. How much hope we had in something good occurring. It shows our grand ability to have faith, hope and love! And when those hopes and dreams get dashed, it’s no surprise they hurt. We believed something good would happened and it didn’t. But what if we marveled not only at our capacity to grieve but what our grieving reveals in us. Your grief revealed you had the audacity and courage to hope in something. You had the capacity to love and believe in something. That in itself is risky.There is no beating heart that feels no sorrow. If it didn’t, it would lack the capacity for joy. If we feel nothing, our heart is not alive but buried. to say you grieve is to say you believed, hoped and loved in a thing so much. Although your hopes were not what you expected, I believe the depth of your grief is a measure to the depth of your love or hope in a thing.

A healthy heart grieves

From grief I have learned this one thing, it is but the opposing force to joy. An ability to grieve deeply, is correlated to the ability to love deeply. You wouldn’t feel as pained about something if you did not first deeply love someone. Part of me is not sure why I am writing this. But the other part feels like people need to know. grief is not the end. grief is a door. A passageway to someplace unexpected and often unknown. While painful in the adjustment of this new passage, there is something new happening. You have just revealed your capacity for deep love. And guess what? Love will come again.

so grieve and let it lead you to the unexpected

So to anyone grieving, grieving a loved one, an unexpected life, a painful breakup or friendship loss- don’t lose hope. So grieve, process and feel through it. Your heart’s capacity to grieve only reveals its capacity to love! Grieving also means your heart is working and alive! If you had no sorrow for someone you loved and lost, was there love there? Grief is a normal reaction. Resisting the grief, actually makes the journey to a new normal difficult. This too shall pass but you may need to grieve first and let your heart mourn the loss of dashed hopes, relationships , people and dreams. Your heart is alive and you must let it grieve. There is good on the other side!