Day 260 - Greater Compassion for Others

365 daily emails to help you through the grieving process Grief support groups: Click here to find a GriefShare group near you. If you would like to find a group for a friend or relative, try our Search Page. Want to read ahead or resend a previous daily email? Click Here Greater Compassion for Others Day 260 It is amazing how grief enables people to relate to one another at a deeper level than before. Until you've experienced grief, you cannot empathize with someone else who is going through it. During your healing process, you may find yourself becoming more sensitive to the hurts and needs of others. "Sometimes I can't even recognize the person I was before," says Dora, who lost a child. "I think that my ability to empathize or have compassion has been strengthened. I'm not so quick to place judgment on a situation or on a person. What may appear on the outside to be one way, may be a completely different story on the inside." You know what grief feels like. You know what it's like to disguise your feelings as you go about your daily tasks, keeping a stoic face as you relate to people at work, in the community, or at church. Use your experience and knowledge of grief to help others. You are the one who realizes that everyone has deep fears and griefs of their own. What act of kindness or compassion will best help those you come in contact with today? God asks you to follow Jesus' example of kindness, compassion, and forgiveness. Follow His example daily. "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you" (Ephesians 4:32). Lord God, let me not make assumptions about the people I meet today; instead, guide me to pass along Your kindness, compassion, and forgiveness. Amen. Grieving with Hope This GriefShare-based book contains short, topical chapters addressing issues that grieving people face but are often hesitant to mention to others; it gently guides people to determine whether they're grieving in a way that leads to hope and ultimate healing. Look for Grieving with Hope by Samuel Hodges and Kathy Leonard at a local or online bookstore or at griefshare.org/hope. If you would like to recommend these daily emails to a friend, please click here and choose one of the options under Share. For more information about GriefShare, including how to sign up for these daily emails, please click here. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2003-2013 by The Church Initiative, Inc., All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without explicit permission in writing from Church Initiative. You subscribed to this daily email through www.griefshare.org. We value your privacy! We will never give, sell, rent, or otherwise share your email or personal information with any other organization — EVER. To remove this email address from further mailings Click Here while connected to the internet. If you have any problems or concerns, please contact dailyemailsupport@griefshare.org. GriefShare 250 S. Allen Rd. Wake Forest, NC 27587 (800) 395-5755