How God Helps You in Your Grief

[How God Helps You in Your Grief]( Current Teaching Series [Living in the Goodness of God]( [Listen to Today's Broadcast]( [How God Helps You in Your Grief]( By Rick Warren — 01/31/2023 [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Pinterest]( [Email](mailto:?subject=I'd%20like%20to%20share%20a%20Daily%20Devotional%20from%20Pastor%20Rick%20with%20you&body= “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, and he saves those whose spirits have been crushed.” Psalm 34:18 (NCV) Everyone will experience loss. And you don’t just “get over” a loss. You can’t go under it; you can’t go around it. You’ve got to go through the grief. If you’re scared to express emotion and refuse to go through it, that’s where you get stuck. You get unstuck by letting God help you. Here are six ways he does that: 1. God draws you close to himself.Psalm 34:18 says, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, and he saves those whose spirits have been crushed” (NCV). When you grieve, God may seem a million miles away. But what you feel and what is real are not always the same thing. In fact, God has never been any closer to you than when you are grieving. 2. God grieves with you.The Bible says Jesus was “a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief” (Isaiah 53:3 NLT). When you come to Jesus with your grief, he understands your pain. God is a suffering God, and he is a sympathetic God. He’s not aloof or apathetic. 3. God gives you a church family for support.We’re meant to grieve and heal in community through our church family. We’re better together! “In Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others . . . Be devoted to one another in love . . . Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn” (Romans 12:5, 10, 15 NIV). 4. God uses grief to help you grow.God uses grief and even pain to help you become more like Christ, and he does it in three ways. First, God uses pain to get your attention. The Bible says, “My brothers and sisters, consider yourselves fortunate when all kinds of trials come your way, for you know that when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the result is the ability to endure” (James 1:2–3 GNB). Second, he brings good out of bad (Romans 8:28), and third, he prepares you for eternity (2 Corinthians 4:17-18). 5. God gives you the hope of heaven.If you believe in and trust Jesus Christ for salvation, then you will spend eternity in heaven with God—and that hope will sustain you through your time of loss. The Bible says, “We don’t want you to be ignorant about those who have died. We don’t want you to grieve like other people who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13 GW). 6. God uses your pain to help others.This is called redemptive pain, and it is the highest and best use of your pain. “[God] comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us” (2 Corinthians 1:4 NLT). [PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >>]( Talk It Over - Why do you think God allows you to experience grief and loss? - If you do not have a church family or small group, what steps can you take today to get connected so that you have the support you need when you go through a loss? - What is the deepest pain you have experienced? How can you use that pain to help others? The post [How God Helps You in Your Grief]( appeared first on [Pastor Rick's Daily Hope](. [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Pinterest]( [Email](mailto:?subject=I'd%20like%20to%20share%20a%20Daily%20Devotional%20from%20Pastor%20Rick%20with%20you&body= [Get the Living in the Goodness of God Guided Bible Study when you give a gift to support Daily Hope!]( Start trusting God’s goodness in every area of life by exploring Psalm 23 with Pastor Rick’s Living in the Goodness of God Guided Bible Study. This beautiful, interactive, book will help you... • Revolutionize your life and your relationships • Recharge your body and mind • Create a habit of worship instead of worry • Practice loving God and others well • Use your time for the things that matter most • Stop comparing and start being content • And so much more! [LEARN MORE]( [Complete Audio Series (Purchase)]( Includes 12 full-length messages from Pastor Rick's series Living in the Goodness of God. [LEARN MORE]( [Series Summary]( Message 1: Is God Really Good All the Time? Message 2: Letting God Meet My Needs Message 3: Relaxing in God’s Goodness Message 4: How God’s Goodness Can Restore You Message 5: How to Be Led by God’s Spirit Message 6: The God of My Valleys Message 7: How Jesus Treats His Sheep Message 8: How God Lifts Me Up When I’m Worn Down Message 9: Living an Anointed Life Message 10: From Overwhelmed to Overflowing Message 11: Why You Don’t Need to Fear the Future Message 12: Heaven: God’s Eternal Goodness to You [PLAY TODAY'S BROADCAST]( Pastor Rick Warren [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [Linkedin]( Enjoy today's devotional? Listen to Pastor Rick’s daily audio teaching at [PastorRick.com]( Did someone forward this devotional to you? [Subscribe to Pastor Rick Warren's Daily Devotional.]( As the founding pastor of Saddleback Church with his wife Kay, Dr. Rick Warren leads a 30,000-member congregation in California with campuses in major cities around the world. As an author, his book [The Purpose Driven Life]( is one of the best-selling nonfiction books in publishing history. It has been translated into 74 languages and sold more than 50 million copies in all formats. His book [The Purpose Driven Church]( was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the century. Rick also founded [The PEACE Plan]( to address five global issues—spiritual emptiness, self-serving leadership, poverty, disease, and illiteracy—through the power of ordinary people in the local church. You can listen to Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope, his daily 25-minute audio teaching, and sign up for his free daily devotionals at [PastorRick.com](. © 2023 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission. You can unsubscribe by clicking the link below. Sent to: {EMAIL} [Unsubscribe]( Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, 23182 Arroyo Vista, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688, United States