This week, we continue to talk about Holding Space for Both - Celebration and Grief.  On Monday, we talked about how we need to give our SELF permission to feel the grief. Yesterday, we talked about how we can trust and have assurance that God is who he says he is - and our grief is not too much for him.

The last thing that we need to grieve is OTHERS. We have to refuse to grieve alone. Which is contrary to so much of what we experience in our culture. I heard this powerful statement spoken by one of the leaders at a recent training I was attending. 

God’s healing prescription for loss is GRIEF + COMMUNITY=LAMENT. 

But our impulse is often to isolate in our grief. But the other reality is that if we don’t teach people how to lament - GRIEVE IN COMMUNITY - we teach them to pretend. 

When we are seen in our grief and pain, something heals deep inside of us because we need other people who bear the image of GOD - to witness our pain and not turn their face away from us. Do you realize that profound truth - YOU bear the image of God - You are an image bearer. 

In Genesis 1:27, at creation - God shows us - “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them.” We ALL have been made in his image, in his likeness. It is how we have been created! And we also see that in Genesis Chapter 2:18 - “The Lord God said, “It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” This was God’s design of community, not just marriage between a man and woman. God knew Adam needed Eve - he needed community. 

So, how do we do that? How do we grieve with others?

Being present and not looking away from others who are grieving or sharing their pain is reflecting who God is. We don’t have to have the right words, we certainly don’t need to fix or solve it, we don’t need the perfect prayer to match the circumstance - we just need to be present. And through the power of the Holy Spirit, and God’s Glory reflecting through us, through our faces - there is deep and profound healing, I believe far beyond our understanding. That is the power of grieving with others!

We  NEED others to bear witness to our grief. Just like we want others to see the celebrations we experience in our life too.

So I want to encourage you today with a few things:

• Meditate on the fact that YOU are an image bearer! 
• Who do you need to invite into your grieving? Ask God to show you who they are. 
• How may God be asking you to hold space for someone’s grief today? 

God bless you all!
~Steph