The Strong Influence of Grief

Over the past two weeks, I’ve thought about the strong influence of grief in our lives and the one who makes me strong. After loss, grief shapes how we feel and impacts how we handle difficult situations.

Recently, my husband went through a difficult medical situation, which we are still walking through. Although I’m relieved he is on the road to recovery, returning to where he was will take a while.

Typically, I have always been good in the midst of a crisis. It’s after it’s over that I tend to break down. It’s during this time when my thoughts shift to a dark place. Questions began to creep into my thoughts, the first being, “What happens if my husband dies? What happens if he becomes incapacitated? How will I handle being a single mom again? How can I go through this again?”

When an unexpected crisis occurs, it can challenge our sense of security and the confidence we like to have in the predictability of our lives. My husband’s health predicament further disclosed to me how the strong influence of grief remains in my life.

Yet, this has also brought something else to light—grief has the power to bring us awareness—the awareness of how we have survived loss and how we have made it through other hard-hitting times. Life can sometimes be challenging, but if we continue to look to and rely upon Jesus, he will lift us up when we are down in the valley. He is the one who once again makes me strong.

I recently heard my husband tell a friend, “We may get down, but we get back up.” We do that by hanging on to our faith and hope in the Lord. God never promised us a carefree or worry-free life, but he promised to always be with us. I’ve been encouraged by the words below which come from the song, Strong, by Anne Wilson:

I hit my knees with my hands held high saying, Dear Lord, Jesus, you know I can’t do this on my ownI can’t do this on my own. Lord knows I’ve tried, but I’m good at falling down. Thank God you’re good at picking me up off the ground. The world’s gonna try to break me but I know the one who makes me strong."

If you’re going through a challenging time in life right now I hope you will join me in raising your hands and heart to the one who can make us strong. You are never alone. ~ Pat