Day 236 - Experiencing Closure

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 Experiencing Closure Day 236 By now you have recognized that everyone grieves in different ways and for different amounts of time. Closure is also an individual experience. Closure in grief is when a particular struggle, emotion, or problem either ends or gets to a place where you are free to move on from it. For some people closure occurs over a long period of time. For others, it occurs at specific moments. Closure can come through the words or comfort of another person, an important memory, a letter, a graveside visit, a Scripture, a new understanding, financial help, or a service to another. God will provide a healing closure for you, and He will bless you in that closure. Pray for closure and look for it. In this biblical account, God blessed the widow with financial provision and by enabling her to keep her sons at home when she feared she could not. "My husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves." Elisha replied to her, "How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?" "Your servant has nothing there at all," she said, "except a little oil." Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side." She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another one." But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing. (2 Kings 4:1-6) This financial provision was enough to pay off all her debts and to bring an end to the desperate economic crisis that her husband's death introduced. God will help you to find closure for the many struggles you face in grief. Keep in mind, though, that God provides for each person in different ways. He will meet your needs in His time and by His perfect plan. Holy Spirit, bring me to the point of closure and peace so that I can think of my loved one with a smile on my face and reassurance in my heart. 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