ManageYourEmotionsBook8.5x5.5_RevJULY.indd

without the help of His Father and the power of the Holy Spirit. Grief, especially in the beginning, produces a wide-range of emo- tions.And, as you process and deal with these, consider actions you should take, especially these two. Continue on with your life.This brings us to the acceptance phase of grieving.You’re never going to forget the loss you’ve expe- rienced and might never get over it, but you can absorb it and move on.When the Lord rejected Saul as Israel’s King, Samuel grieved. Then came the point when the Lord intervened and instructed him to move on and anoint Saul’s successor, David (see 1 Samuel 16:1). Years later, King David mourned deeply over the loss of his child birthed from his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba. As the Bible says, “David arose from the ground, washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he came into the house of the Lord and worshiped.Then he came to his own house, and when he requested, they set food before him and he ate” (2 Samuel 12:20). Soon after that, David went to comfort his wife, Bathsheba.After he lay with her, she gave birth to a son, Solomon, who grew up to become King of Israel (see 2 Samuel 12:24). After going through a divorce, a man I knew said, “I cried for two years and then woke up one day and wrote my wife a thank- you note.”That may sound sarcastic, yet it illustrates a point.There comes a time you have to move on.What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Don’t grow bitter; grow better. Count upon the afterlife. In the midst of her grief, Martha never lost sight of the big picture.After being questioned about His delay, Jesus said, “Your brother will rise again” – to which Martha responded, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day” (John 11:24). It’s obvious from this statement that Martha un- derstood kingdom life far beyond what she had experienced on earth up to that point. Crushed by grief and the words from his “friends” mentioned above, Job said, “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at

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