Resources by Topic: Grief and Loss

I’ll never forget the Sunday morning when I arrived at our church, which my mom had also attended. Though she had died that week, I decided to preach anyway. A very strange thing happened.

I assume you are referring to the idea that a cardinal represents the memory, or sense of connection, with a loved one who has died? Or some seem to go as far as to say it’s a loved one sending a message.

There’s no doubt that grieving a loved one’s death is a long, often lonely, always painful process. But I encourage those of you who might feel you now have no purpose: don’t throw away the calling God has for you to serve Him here until your time is done and He takes you home.

It’s common for those who are grieving to find attending church difficult. So it’s certainly understandable that you would find aspects of church life very challenging right now. But let me also encourage you not to give up on attending church in person.

I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your loved one. I completely understand how you feel and absolutely know what it feels like myself to feel dismissed in my moment of pain by what others say and share.

When a child falls off a bike, she doesn’t need her father to explain the physics of why it happened. No. The child simply wants comfort. We don’t need explanations, most of which we wouldn’t understand anyway. We need “God, who comforts the downcast” (2 Corinthians 7:6). 

Clarrisa Moll, author of Beyond the Darkness, shares five tips for the holiday season for those who are grieving. She writes, “There is a joy to this season that death, trial, and suffering can never take away.” So true. Because of Jesus, we have a rock-solid hope. I believe that more than ever since Nanci entered His presence!

On the Equipping You in Grace show, Dave Jenkins talks with Randy Alcorn about how living in light of the truth of Heaven can help those grieving now and about finding your God-given identity after a loss. They also talk about Randy’s booklet Grieving with Hope: Walking with Jesus in Heartbreak.

I know that it can feel like other couples and families are too busy for you, but you really need to be with people right now. I encourage you to fight through the feelings that your Christian friends have their own lives. This is what the Christian community is supposed to do for each other.

In the journey of grief, we are not alone—one of the names of Jesus is Immanuel, which means “God with us.” Jesus is my closest and dearest friend. I can’t imagine life without Him.

We do want to be very careful to keep the focus on Jesus, and remember that He is the only Mediator we need. (Seeking contact with the dead is clearly forbidden in Scripture.)

We who are grieving need to hear these words: “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16, 18).

The Bible says this about grief: “And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope.” 

This is a blast from the past, at least for those of us old enough to remember Dallas Holm and Praise, and his 1977 mega-hit “I Will Rise Again.” I have listened to it multiple times recently, and it takes me back to a crucial time in my life.