Dealing with grief

”Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”“
‭‭John‬ ‭11‬:‭24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Good morning my beloved family. I hope we are all doing okay today? I hope your weekend was wonderful. We are continuing with our topic ; dealing with depression, subtopic- dealing with grief. I know many people who have been depressed since they lost their loved ones, you may be too. By “losing loved ones” I mean from relatives to having miscarriages, to friends, colleagues etcetera. Death is one of the things that I still fail to understand.

If you are dealing with depression because of bereavement here are some ways to help you ;

1. Tell someone – in places like Africa where the community is close knit , when/where there’s a funeral , the community is notified. I believe Mary and Martha told some people as well because the bible states that mourners gathered to mourn with them. Understand that you need a community to support you during this time. This is why it’s also important to be a part of the community. You need people. You’ll never not need people in this world. The community will mourn with you and mourn for you.
2. Cry – many people suppress their feelings. The bible says Jesus wept. You need to allow yourself to cry. When there’s pain in your heart it’s okay to cry. That’s how the body/heart has been tailored to deal with heavy emotions. Being a robot will only cause more damage. Not crying doesn’t mean you’re strong, this narrative of telling mourners to stop crying so that they can be strong is wrong. Allow them to cry so that they can be strong. Tears sometimes build strength. You feel better after crying.
3. Take time off – it’s not right to just jump back on the fast lane after losing a loved one. Of course you can’t take leave for a long time but give yourself time to rest. Mary and Martha were found at home four days after Lazarus was buried. Not in a club. Not at a wild party trying to cope in ungodly ways. Careful to not entertain the comfort zone for too long , that pats you in the back until you rest yourself to joblessness or riotous living . It’s easy to fall into bad habits during such times. Be very careful. Rest but also get up and get back to your life.
   
   I hope that these help you. We will have some more practical ways tomorrow. Remember, you can read 500 books if you like but if you don’t practise what you read, you have wasted your time.

”Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.“
‭‭John‬ ‭11‬:‭5‬ ‭NIV‬‬


HE STILL LOVES YOU!