There is no timeline for grief, there is no time limit for grief, and there is no roadmap to follow as we go through it! But one fact does remain, it is a part of life, and we all go through it. The question is, how will we get through it?

There is only one answer to that, with God as our guiding light!

I know that through my journey there have been many ups and downs, but only one thing that I have sought and fought for. That is not just to survive this grief, and not just to grow from it, but to actually thrive and flourish through it!

One of the books, I believe God brought me to during my season of grief was, ‘Faith to Flourish,’ by Christine Caine.

In it, she researches in depth Psalm 52. Here we see David, in the middle of intense pain, persecution, isolation, slandering, betrayal, and grief. Yet he is able to say in the midst of it that he is like a flourishing olive tree in the house of God. David declares that if we are “found in Christ,“ then we can be right in the middle of chaos without being in inner chaos!This is my favorite line from Christine‘s book and the greatest lesson that God has been teaching me through this season of grief. 

In a strange sense, grief is also tricky when it makes us feel guilty for finding joy again. For laughing and finding happiness and pleasure in the smallest of moments. However, that in fact is exactly what God wants for us! Our loss and our pain will always be there in some measure. Yet the strength and the courage and the true joy that comes from being “found in Christ,“ allows us to not simply survive and grow, but truly learn to thrive and flourish through it!

“But I am like a flourishing olive tree in the house of God; I trust in God‘s faithful love forever and ever.” Psalm 52:8

In this high-tech, fast paced AI world that we live in, we want a quick fix! But grief is anything but quick. It is a process, it is a journey and any journey worth taking takes all of the stops and bumps and sites and holes in the road as it moves along! Otherwise we miss the sunrises and the sunsets! We miss the beautiful, rolling green hills and the small brooks that move slowly and gently along between two levies. We miss the rock formations that shoot up out of nowhere and form images that remind us of pictures we have seen. We miss the one lone flower that sprouts up in the middle of a barren wasteland. We miss the clouds as they roll by and look like elephants and monkeys, and images of someone we know. We miss the butterfly that seems to float through the air and land gently on the tip of a flower. We miss the hawk as it glides on the air current and suddenly darts through the air as it picks something off the ground in a split second. We miss all this and so much more when our focus is only on our pain and sorrow and not on the journey itself.

We want someone to take it away quick. We want AI to give us the formula in a step-by-step process to get over it. We want a pill to fix it or a massage to soothe it or a self-help book to cure it. And while these things may help us survive and even at times grow, they do not have the ability to help us thrive and flourish. God alone has that power!

In this chapter in Psalm 52 we see a confident David who has understood this complex yet marvelous oxymoron of being in the middle of chaos without being in personal inner chaos! 

In the ESV(English Standard Version), verse 8 of chapter 52 in Psalms reads; 

“But I am like a GREEN olive tree…” GREEN MEANS FLOURISHING!

It is growing it is strong, it is producing it is thriving and it is flourishing!

In verses six and seven right before verse eight, our David declares that he is a flourishing olive tree in the house of God, he points out the fact that the man or woman who does not make God his refuge, and trusts in his own ways and not God’s, will come to his own destruction!

David completes verse eight with these words;

“I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever!” 

Our trust must be in God alone! That is how we can go through our pain and grief and not get swallowed up by the chaos that comes with it, but have true inner peace and joy right in the middle of it!

“Then we have nothing left to do, but give God the thanks and glory for it forever and ever!” Psalm 12:8b

“I will thank you forever, because you have done it. I will wait for your name, for it is good, in the presence of the godly.” 

Psalm 12:9

TRUTH BOMB

IN THE MIDST OF OUR GRIEF WE CANNOT ONLY SURVIVE WE CAN FLOURISH WHEN WE ARE FOUND IN CHRIST.

Speak Truth Love