Day 89 - Remedy for Loneliness

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 Remedy for Loneliness Day 89 Become involved with a Christ-centered grief support group. Many churches have small groups that can aid you in your healing from grief. “You feel like you’re losing it, and then you hear these other people who have similar incidents happening in their lives. You realize that God prepared the body in such a way that you’ve got to go through this process before you can heal,” says Nancy following her husband’s death. God does not want you to be alone. “I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit that is on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you carry the burden … so that you will not have to carry it alone” (Numbers 11:17). A grief support group should have a focus beyond grief itself. In other words, the group should do more than share stories and release emotions. A group with the objective of introducing biblical help for grieving individuals will provide the tools needed to face life’s difficulties and to move toward a new and abundant life. The GriefShare groups are designed for this purpose. Faithful God, give me the courage and desire to pick up the phone and find a support group to aid me in my healing. Amen. GriefShare groups are meeting throughout the United States, Canada, and several other countries. Here is how you can find out more about these groups: Search the database at http://www.griefshare.org and find the location of the nearest GriefShare group by zip code, area code, or city. Or e-mail your zip code to info@griefshare.org to receive a list of the groups nearest you. You can also call 1-800-395-5755 or 919-562-2112. Through a Season of Grief The daily email messages you are receiving are also available in a book format. Purchase as a gift for a friend or buy a print copy for yourself. Through a Season of Grief by Bill Dunn and Kathy Leonard is available at online and local bookstores or at griefshare.org/devotional. 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

Day 88 - Loneliness

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 Loneliness Day 88 The loneliness of loss—do you feel it? This can be one of the most painful emotions in grieving. Luevenia, whose husband passed away, says, “There’s no way I’ll ever be the same. It just can’t be. I’m so lonely. The evenings are the toughest because I can get out during the day and do things.” The Lord Jesus knows what it’s like to be lonely. He’s been there. He knows it well. You may be lonely, but you are never alone because God is with you every moment, and He can transform your lonely life in ways you cannot imagine. “God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land” (Psalm 68:6). Holy God, I am a prisoner of loneliness. I know that things will never be the same as they were, but You promise in Your Word that You will “lead forth the prisoners with singing.” Lead on, Lord. 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

Our Daily Bread -- Answer The Cry

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Answer The Cry January 24, 2015

[The Lord] will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry. —Isaiah 30:19 Read: Isaiah 30:15-22 Bible in a Year: Exodus 9-11; Matthew 15:21-39 When my grandchildren were young, my son took them to see the stage production of The Lion King. As the young lion, Simba, stood over his father, King Mufasa, who had been killed by his evil uncle, little Simba, afraid and alone, cried out, “Help, Help, Help!” At that moment, my 3-year-old grandson stood on his chair in the hushed theater and shouted, “Why doesn’t somebody help him?!” The Old Testament contains many accounts of God’s people crying out for help. Although their trouble was often self-imposed due to their waywardness, God was still eager to come to their aid. The prophet Isaiah had to deliver a lot of bad news, but in the midst of it he assured the people that “the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. . . . How gracious he will be when you cry for help!” (Isa. 30:18-19 niv). Yet God often looked to His own people to be the answer to that cry for help (see Isa. 58:10). Today, people all around us are in need of someone to take action to help them. It is a high privilege to become the hands of God as we respond on His behalf to cries for help. —Joe Stowell Lord, remind me that You desire to show compassion to those in need and that You often call on us to be the instruments of that compassion. Give me an opportunity today to show Your love to at least one person in need. Show that God cares by lending a helping hand. INSIGHT: Isaiah was a prophet who spoke comprehensively about the coming Messiah. In fact, he spoke about the Deliverer more than any other Old Testament figure did—which makes his name very appropriate. Isaiah means “the Lord is salvation.” Share your thoughts on today’s devotional on Facebook or odb.org.

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Day 87 - Relief

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 Relief Day 87 Relief is also a common emotion associated with grief, especially if your loved one was in pain or suffering. Janet Paschal’s grandfather had Alzheimer’s disease. She says, “We had watched him change, and it was a very slow loss, a very slow process. So there was a sense of relief when he died, but at the same time, there was a selfish part of me that wanted him back, that didn’t want to surrender him.” You may feel relief because the burden of responsibility has been lifted with the death of your loved one. Don’t feel guilty about your relief. This response is natural and expected, particularly after a long struggle or illness. “We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful” (James 5:11 NASB). Lord God, my feelings confuse and somewhat embarrass me. Thank you for granting me endurance, and please continue to guide me on my journey through grief. Amen. Through a Season of Grief The daily email messages you are receiving are also available in a book format. Purchase as a gift for a friend or buy a print copy for yourself. Through a Season of Grief by Bill Dunn and Kathy Leonard is available at online and local bookstores or at griefshare.org/devotional. 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

Our Daily Bread -- When Others Won't Forgive

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When Others Won’t Forgive January 23, 2015

Forgetting those things which are behind . . . I press toward the goal. —Philippians 3:13-14 Read: Philippians 3:12-16 Bible in a Year: Exodus 7-8; Matthew 15:1-20 I was having lunch with two men who had opened their lives to Christ while they were in prison. The younger man had been discouraged by the fact that the family from whom he had stolen would not forgive him. “My crime was violent,” the older man said. “It continues to haunt and affect the family to this day. They have not forgiven me, . . . the pain is just too great. At first, I found myself paralyzed by this longing for their forgiveness.” He continued his story: “Then one day I realized I was adding selfishness to my brokenness. It’s a lot to expect that the family forgive me. I was focused on what I felt I needed to heal from my past. It took some time to realize that their forgiveness of me was a matter between them and God.” “How can you stand it?” the younger man asked. The older man explained that God did for him what he didn’t deserve and what others simply can’t do: He died for our sins, and He keeps His promise to move our sins “as far as the east is from the west” (Ps. 103:12) and “will not remember [our] sins” (Isa. 43:25). In the face of such great love, we honor Him by accepting His forgiveness as sufficient. We must forget what lies behind and keep pressing forward (Phil. 3:13-14). —Randy Kilgore Thank You, Father, for the work of Christ on the cross. Help me to understand and accept what it means for me, and to be a messenger of that forgiveness to those I meet along the way. The work of Christ is sufficient for every sin. INSIGHT: Paul often uses the metaphor of an athlete running a race to depict the Christian life (1 Cor. 9:24-27; Phil. 2:16; 2 Tim. 4:7). In today’s passage, he compares himself to someone running a long-distance race. Paul had probably been a Christian for about 30 years when he wrote this letter; he was known as the apostle to the Gentiles (Eph. 3:8; Gal. 2:8) and as a teacher of the Scriptures. He could have been content with his own spiritual maturity, but he did not consider himself as having “already reached perfection” (v.12 nlt). Instead, Paul persisted in pursuing Christlikeness (v.10) with the determination and vigor of a runner whose single goal is to be the first to cross the finish line. Share your thoughts on today’s devotional on Facebook or odb.org.

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Day 86 - If Only I Had . . .

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 If Only I Had … Day 86 “In God’s economy you can’t go back and say, ‘I should have done this,’ ‘I should have done that,’ or ‘I didn’t do this right,’” says Barbara Johnson, “because you did the best you could at the time that you did it. God knows your heart, and you can’t live in a state of regret or wishing you had done something different. There has to be closure to that.” Many times you may beat yourself up thinking about the things you did wrong in regard to your loved one, or you are plagued with thoughts about what you could have done differently. John’s son committed suicide. He says, “Afterwards, I remembered every time that I had mistreated him or punished him unjustly. I recalled every time I had yelled at him out of frustration and anger—everything I had done wrong as a parent to him. It’s like I was on the witness stand and there was a prosecutor who said, ‘You did this and you did that.’” John realized that his thoughts of blame, regret, and self-condemnation were harmful and they needed to stop. He knew that good, uplifting, and strengthening thoughts are from God and he needed to focus on them. He says, “God in his grace also reminded me of when I would come home and eat lunch with my son and we would have little talks. The little things we did were good. We did have some really good times.” Remember the good times, and counter your “if onlys” with Scripture. God’s Word is powerful and will help you conquer the negative thoughts that play in your head. Choose a Bible verse to repeat throughout the day, replacing harmful thoughts with God’s healing words. “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24). Lord God, teach me to put off my old habits of self-condemnation and bitter regret and replace them with a new attitude of prayer and Christlikeness. 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