“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.” (Isaiah 53:4 ESV)
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it fear.” (John 14:27 BSB)
” The theif does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10 NKJV)
“Do holidays highlight your pain?
For many of us who have “lost” loved ones, the holidays can be a time to expose, and even multiply, the pain that resides within us.
It has been 3 years since the departure of my soulmate and best friend, Melody. While I have been delivered from grief and sorrow, and given freedom from the pain, there are others close to me that are continuing to struggle. Seeing them struggle breaks my heart.
It hit me yesterday that we have been deceived by the one who wants us to suffer. We have an enemy who roams this earth looking for those he can devour. He wants to steal our joy, kill all that is good within us, and destroy our lives. He knows that as long as he can keep us thinking that the pain is evidence of how much we loved the person we “lost,” or that freedom from that pain somehow means that we love that person less, he can get us to hang onto the pain, and use times of life celebration to hurt us.
The enemy knows that if I believe that “moving on” means “leaving behind” the one who was such a huge part of my life, he can get me to suffer indefinitely. As long as he can convince me that letting go of the pain is letting go of my loved one he can keep me trapped in a cycle of suffering that is triggered by every reminder of my “loss” (especially holidays).
I want you to know that releasing the pain is NOT letting go of the one we love. Forgetting the sorrow is NOT forgetting the loved one. Moving forward is NOT leaving them behind. Jesus bore our griefs and sorrows on the cross. He took them so that we could be set free.
I have been given total freedom to remember Melody at Christmas and carry her with me through the holiday festivities without carrying any of the pain. Jesus has set me free.
What he has done for me he will do for you! That is the hope of…
…Eric’s Life Lesson # 351: Holiday Pain