Episode 92 - Those who Mourn will be comforted

Look to the Spirit to be comforted after a loss

Matthew 5:4

Transcript

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This little light online, I'm gonna let it shine. Hello and welcome to Shine. I'm your host, Nicole Florence, and we have been talking a little bit about grief and and loss, you know, in particular loss of a loved one. And for me, you know, I I will say I have been incredibly blessed that I still have my parents, um, my siblings, my kids, um, most of my cousins and friends, and while my grandmother, Gigi, was probably the deepest loss that I suffered 20 years ago over time, I am truly seeing that maybe unlike some of you, um I have not had to endure a certain level of grief and mourning that perhaps some of you have, as I know, that I've talked to some of you about that. Um it's been about 20 years since my grandmother died, and let me tell you, we were as thick as thieves, right? Um she was extremely young when I was born. She was like in her 40s, and so you talk about a cool grandma, right? Playing, um, running. Uh, we would go to the state fair every single day and see everything that was there. Um, you know, spending summers with her. And at one point when we moved to Springfield, I actually and my dad lived with them until the house was ready so I could go to school and get acclimated. And of course, as she got older and more frail, um, she got sicker. Uh, there were, you know, a lot of occasions where you truly started to understand that she wasn't going to be on this earth uh forever. So, you know, different preparation, so to speak, than I know others have when their loved ones die suddenly. She is also the reason why I call this Shine. Um when we were little, she used to sing that song to us, and we would sing it with her, um, just you know, reminding us of who we were, um, not only to God, but to the world. And I remember after she passed, oh goodness, I think my son was maybe nine. Um, and we were talking about it, and he said, you know, he didn't understand why, you know, God had to take Gigi away. Um, and you know, I kind of had to remind him that, you know, we are here as a gift, you know, from him, um, that she was truly never ours to begin with, but God gives us each other out of his love for us, and you know, he kind of wants us back. And I'll never forget this. He looked at me and said, but if God gets forever and ever, why can't we have just one more day? Whew, right? Out of the mouth of babes. And it was such a great reminder that we cannot lean in on our own understanding. We know that from Proverbs 3, 5 to 6. I can't trust my brain and heart. I have to trust God and I have to trust the Spirit. And as much as there was a void created in my heart when she passed, I do know that he was there to comfort me. There were so many times over the last 20 years and still where I would somewhat be reminded of my grandmother, reminded of her joy, her laugh, her purposeful life in the way that I would move day to day, whether it was running into someone at the grocery store who would tell a great story or hearing about her impact on another person's life. Um we have this photo actually in our kitchen, and she was a really good cook and she loved to cook. And I remember that day she made um shrimp étouffe, and she was making her roux, and she's leaning over that pot. She has oxygen, right? She was oxygen-dependent, and I love this photo, and I put it there because every day it also reminds me of so many beautiful moments. Um reminds me of how food was her love language, and it reminds me that she is still within my heart and my spirit, uh, even though she has gone to God. Now it takes time to get there. I am not in any way going to negate the pain and yes, the suffering and the loss that is felt, that void after we lose someone who is incredibly special to us and who we love. But I always go back to what we are told in Scripture and how we know that He always wipes our tears away, and that with sorrow there's always joy. And we know in Matthew chapter 5, verse 4, blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Not maybe, not perhaps they will be comforted. And we find that comfort through prayer, through song, through presence, but also through knowing how much God loves us and he doesn't want us to be in pain. And also knowing that ultimately God wants us back to. So for those of you who have suffered great loss, for those of you who are still in that period of mourning and pain, I hope and I pray that you will look to the spirit to guide you through that journey, and that you will seek the comfort that is there for you through the spirit. And as my Gigi would say, and let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.