What I’ve Learned About Grief

What I’ve learned about grief may surprise you, and I hope it helps you too.

If you’ve joined me here from my Encouragement for Today devotion for Proverbs 31 Ministries, welcome! As promised, I have a giveaway and free printable for you. Keep reading to find those links below.

What I’ve Learned About Grief as a Helper

In my devotion, I mention what I learned in my training as a Stephen Minister. We learned that often, it’s best to sit alongside someone in near silence while they are grieving. Our quiet presence alongside them can be of great comfort to them. We often don’t need to say a thing; our presence is enough.

What else have I learned about grief from the helper side? Here’s a brief list:

• Grieving doesn’t follow a linear pattern. It often lasts longer than you expect. Your help may be needed for a year or more.
• It’s important to speak their loved one’s name to them. They crave to hear it, because others often avoid saying it. Speaking the name will be a blessing, not a burden.
• Anniversaries and holidays can be especially hard. As a helper, those are great times to send cards, call, and offer your quiet presence.

There are many more things I learned in my 50 hours of training to become a Stephen Minister. If you are grieving and need someone to walk beside you in your grief, go HERE to see if there is a Stephen Ministry branch in your area.

What I’ve Learned About Grief Myself

I’ve had several seasons of grief myself. I’ve grieved deaths of loved ones, dreams and even my marriage while my husband and I were separated. I’m also still grieving several living deaths as an adult child of divorce. In the Regretful Thoughts chapter of my book, Transforming Your Thought Life, I speak about grieving something that never came to be.

I could write a whole book about what I’ve learned about grief in my own experience (and maybe I will someday). But here’s a brief list of lessons I want to share with you:

• It’s necessary to grieve a loss as you experience it. Someone else may not see it as a need to grieve, but if you do, the grieving process is needed.
• God is with you before, during and after your unexpected rush of grief. It’s better to let it flow out and hurt for a few hard moments.
• Trying to avoid your grief only causes deeper issues. Your mind and body will leak out symptoms related to grief until you deal with it in the open.

I hope these tips help you in your season of grief.

Reaching Out to Others While Grieving

Reaching out to others in my grief was essential for my healing. In past seasons of grief, I relied on close friends, my small group at church, my pastors, and my Christian counselor to help me get through the toughest times. Their help was crucial for my healing, even when they simply listened to me and quietly sat beside me in my grief.

We are not meant to be alone in our grief. That’s a lesson for both those grieving and those helping. If you are facing a tough time, I offer prayers for anyone who reaches out to me for help. I receive them weekly for people in crisis, especially from those enduring marriage difficulties. Want me to pray for you? Reach out to me HERE with your confidential prayer request.

More Links on Grief

You may enjoy these other posts and podcasts of mine on grief:

How to Deal With a Living Death

How to Handle Holiday Grief in Quarantine

You Have Permission to Pray

How to Handle Trigger Ages

Also, if you’re in a marriage separation, you may gain encouragement from my popular post How to Begin Again After Marriage Separation, or any of my marriage posts HERE.

What I’ve Learned About Grief

These Bible verses on grief are ideal if you are suffering from grief, or want to help someone suffering through grief. A free printable for you is HERE.

Book Giveaway!

I enjoyed this book, How to Have a Better Relationship with Anybody, which will increase your sensitivity toward others in all aspects of life. Listen to an excerpt HERE and enter below for your chance to win. Open to U.S. residents only, please.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Prayer Requests

Do you have a prayer request for me? I’d be honored to pray for you, and I hold your prayer requests in complete confidence. Send me your request HERE.

Special insider opportunity!

Did you know? I spend over $200.00 per month on all the expenses relating to my ministry. If you are willing to donate to help offset these expenses, I’ll reward you with an exclusive monthly video teaching and printable. Please donate HERE if you received value from my content today. I’ll add you to the monthly list to receive the exclusive rewards for your donation of any amount. Thank you!

Also, if you make a purchase from any of the links on this post, I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!

What I’ve Learned About Grief

This post may be shared on these linkups.

If you enjoyed this post, I appreciate your shares on social media!

If you make a purchase through the provided links, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you in advance for supporting my writing ministry!

I send my weekly newsletter Tea on Tuesdays at 3:00 p.m. Central time every Tuesday.  I write an exclusive devotion for you each week that I share with you first.

To receive the newsletter, please subscribe below. I can’t wait to share personally with you each week!