Day 325 - Take the First Step

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 Take the First Step Day 325 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (James 1:27). Others will want to show their love for you during grief, but will often not know how to do that. Wendy and Jeffrey lost their infant son. Wendy says, "We both felt like everybody in the entire world was trying to avoid us. They didn't want to ask us how we were doing because they were scared that we might actually tell them! They wouldn't know what to say, or they just didn't want to talk to us at all because they knew we were probably very sad people. So that might rub off on them. "I wish I had counted the number of cards we received because that's a very easy thing to do. But as far as phone calls? We have very good friends, and it wasn't that they didn't care; it was just that they didn't know what to say. So they didn't call." If you are in need of a phone call or a listening ear, you may need to take the first step. Or, if you need to offer someone else a listening ear, pick up the phone and call. The Bible instructs people to look after one another and to stay true to His Word. Father, I'm on both ends of this. I need people to help and encourage me, and, at the same time, I want to be there for those who need my support. 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