What Does Healing from Grief Really Mean?

One of the recent heartfelt questions I’ve been asked by other moms who find themselves on the grief journey is, will I ever get over this intense feeling of grief and sadness? Which has led to the next question: what does healing from grief really mean?

There have certainly been times when I’ve asked myself these very same questions. I’m not a certified grief counselor. I’m just another student of grief, learning as I go. But I am willing to share what I’ve learned along the way in the hopes that it may help someone else.

Let me first say I don’t think we ever get over our grief. We learn how to live around it. There is a time and season for everything and there is a time to grieve. Just because our loved one died, doesn’t mean for one moment that our love died with them.

I believe that God does heal our broken heart. It does take time, but time doesn’t necessarily heal all of our wounds either. As God heals our brokenness, we begin to learn how we can live with both joy and sorrow.

One of my greatest learnings is this: Grief IS love. Grief is all the love we had for our loved one that now has nowhere to go. So, what do we do? We may cry … buckets and buckets of tears. Those tears are a physical sign of all the love we still have deep within our heart.

Sometimes it’s easier to say what healing from grief is not.

Healing from grief is not about moving on after losing your loved one. As your heart begins to heal from your loss we don’t ever move on – we move forward.

I believe healing from grief means you get to a place where you have learned how to acknowledge your loss and create a space for it in your life. The grief isn’t as all consuming and intense as it may have been at one time.

When we are progressing through our grief we learn how to love the one who ran ahead to heaven with the same deep joy and passion we had for them when they were alive.

Healing from grief is not a one size fits all. There is absolutely no time limit and we each must walk our own path, moving forward, as we able to do.

As you’re walking, always remember, you are never alone.