This week’s episode of Geek Devotions is going to be a bit different. This week we are taking the time to talk about grief. Losing a loved one is hard and when it happens people have to learn how to grieve. This week Dallas takes time to talk about what they’ve been doing as they’ve been learning to grieve the loss of a loved one.

This week on Geek Devotions we are dealing with some a more serious topic so the content will be a bit less geeky than usual.  This week we are talking about learning to grieve.  Why? Because that’s what we are going through right now here on Geek Devotions. For the full story click the link below that says “Prayers Appreciated.” Long story short, recently, Celeste’s youngest brother has passed away. Jeremiah had a variety of medical issues and lived much longer than any of the doctors ever expected.

That said, in the wake of this loss Celeste and our family are having to learn to grieve. Grieving is a process that, like it or not, we will all need to go through at some point. This article is going to hit some of the points in the above episode where I (Dallas) walk you through how we’ve been learning to grieve. At the end of this article, we will post a link to another article on this site written by PLPC Damara Mora on how to grieve. Damara is bringing her professional understanding to the table in that article and we hope it encourages you.  But, here’s what we’ve been learning….

First and foremost we’ve had to remember 3 things

1. Grieving is not a bad thing. It’s ok not to be ok. We know from Scriptures that Jesus Himself grieved at times. Some people think it’s wrong to grieve either because they have responsibilities or that it somehow makes them less spiritual. Understand that you’ve gone through something tragic, you don’t have to be “OK” all the time.
2. The grieving process takes a while, things may get worse before they get better. Keeping that in mind has helped us to keep going. Some people beat themselves up over the fact that they still hurt or miss a loved one even when it has been weeks or months later.
3. It will be hard, but don’t let it stop you from continuing on. Stopping does not honor those whom you’ve lost. Unfortunately, people allow the loss of a loved one to cause them to stop living their life completely. In some cases they feel like living their life or doing things they originally planned to do or used to do with said lost one is dishonoring to them. Don’t let that happen, keep living. I was once speaking to someone who lost someone very close to them. I asked them how they kept going in the face of their tragedy along with their medical depression and this is what they said, “I didn’t have the luxury of shutting down for weeks on end.  As a parent I had children to care for and I needed to be there for them.”

So what, in our faith, helps us to deal with grief?

1. We understand that as Christians that we have hope. We know that there is life beyond this world and those in Jesus are restored and worship God in His presence. For Jeremiah, he’s no longer in any pain, he can now walk, he can sing, he can experience things in a whole new way that he never did here on earth.

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
1 Thessalonians 4:13 English Standard Version (ESV)

2 The next thing is remembering that we aren’t alone. Yes, we have each other and many friends and loved ones, but more importantly, we have Christ. The scriptures tell u that the Lord is near to those who are brokenhearted. Meaning when that after everyone has left the room when we are alone in our bedrooms… God is there and He’s ministering to us.

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:18 English Standard Version (ESV)

If you’re grieving remember that God is with you and in time, with His help, you will be ok. He brings healing through some very spiritual means such as through prayer but also through some very practical ways. If while in the grieving process you find yourself in depression… seek help. Like we said earlier, below is a link to Damara’s article about how to grieve.