220 - Lorri Lennox - Touched by Grief...

As I was browsing through blogs today number 220 - Lorri Lennox blog really spoke to me. Her blog is really beautiful and heartfelt. I scrolled down a bit and came across her touching entry about her grief of losing her mum 6 months ago and going through her first Mother`s Day without her. She has two drawings that expressed her feelings and the above one spoke to me. I think her words are apart of her grieving as I have felt them also - feeling like I was in a strange unwelcome land... I lost my Dad almost 17 years ago now, when I come across posts like this it makes me think about him. The grief is still there but not as severely or raw as it was when he first passed away.
Losing a loved one is so difficult. As I commented on Lorri`s blog... I had some help towards beginning my healing process...
The week after he passed away I went to Church and for the first time since being a member the Pastor called an altar call for people who needed to be prayed for. I slowly made my way up to the front and a tall grey haired man came directly over to me and grabbed my hands and said, ``Jesus takes the place of the ones we lose``. I cannot even remember if I told him that I was grieving for my Dad. He prayed for me and his words kept going over and over in my mind... ``Jesus takes the place of the ones we lose``, ``Jesus takes the place of the ones we lose``. How did this work anyway? How could he take the place of my Dad? I physically lost him... he was dead. It took me many years... many tears... many trials and much grief before I fully understood what those words meant. When we lose someone on this earth we are left with an empty hole inside of us, a deep dark chasm that seems to dig further and further into our souls leaving us numb and basically dead inside. When we ask Jesus into our hearts He becomes our lifeforce flowing His streams of living water through the veins of our soul washing the murkiness of death and darkness away. Through His death we no longer have to face "death" though we tend to take it on again and again in this life unnecessarily. We can give Him the grief and the pain and the sorrow of this life and lay them at the foot of His cross where He died to take upon our burdens, and our emptiness and of course so much more. Even though the grief process is sometimes slow and painful... our eyes will eventually begin to open to the love of Jesus as He carries us through the storms of grief and loss.
If you are struggling in this area... know that there is hope and His name is Jesus, He truly does take the place of the ones we lose.

Hugs to you all and thank you Lorri for your heartwarming post and beautiful drawings that touched my heart in so many ways this morning.