"Overtaken"

Hi everyone, It was almost by mistake that I received this last week, but I know there are no mistakes with God, so I'm glad to share this with you from my widow friend Robin. She and another woman are starting a group at her church called “Moving Through Grief,” so please keep them in your prayers.  ♥ ferree

from Robin Johnston

Here are the most important things that have helped me move through the grief of suddenly and unexpectedly losing both my father and my husband in the span of 2 weeks in May/June 2016:

1) To let myself grieve - yes, we Christians do grieve but not as those who have no hope. 

But what does that look like? For me it was allowing myself to deeply mourn but to know there was hope ahead.

2) To fight for my hope. In order to have hope we have to work at renewing our minds according to how God thinks — to fill our minds and let them be transformed with his truth. We have to know when our own thoughts are taking free reign - those thoughts that have nothing to do with what God says is true. We have to refute them and firmly believe God is a good God, completely trustworthy. (Romans 12:1,2)

3) Repeat # 2 again: it is important to completely establish a firm belief that God is a good God! That he loves me! That he has good plans for me!

4) COURAGE. To stretch myself and move through every “Red Sea” that is before me. This takes courage and a choice to believe that God will be with me and that he will part the waters as they come so I can walk through. 

• Yes, go on that little vacation with the kids. 
• Yes, stay in the hotel room alone for the first time... and then do it again the second time. 
• Go on another trip with your girlfriends. 
• Ride some rollercoasters!! (Lol - my brother took me to a rollercoaster park - me, who hadn’t been on any rollercoasters in decades. I ended up going on every single one and it was scary but in the end it brought healing to a very deep part of me). 
• Spend time with the grandkids. 
• Face your taxes and keep looking for a trustworthy accountant until you find one - your God has one for you! 
• And for me, I finally did all that it took to become a Canadian citizen in this country I’ve lived in for almost 28 years. That took courage. I am now a dual American/Canadian citizen. 
• I went back to work in a new area of nursing - neurotrauma- it took courage and a belief in a good God! 
• There was the wedding of our fourth and youngest son and then three more grandsons born all without my husband... and God gave grace for it all. 

How can I be standing strong after this past 19 months? I made the choice to work hard in partnership with Jesus to fight the battlefield in my mind every single day. He IS a good God!! And yes, some days I grieve and cry and miss my husband terribly. But I courageously move on, and his overwhelming joy and peace has overtaken me.