Northern Colorado Gazette

Carol Clemans

As newborn babes, we cry and someone comes running to take care of our needs. We grow up in a ‘gimme-gimme, take-take world.’ We love getting, but we are not taught how to lose anything. Grief comes with the loss of people, things and relationships. All of us will experience grief in our lives.
I have had five people close to me die. My parents were at the ages of 85 and 93. That grief was more expectant because they were older. I loved them dearly and miss them extremely. Then as I shared in a previous article, I’ve had three close friends go to heaven in 1989, 1995 and January 2011. The first comfort comes from God’s promise: “Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.” When we know our loved ones are with the Lord, we have a promise to be with them throughout eternity.
It’s appointed unto man once to die. Our life is like a vapor – here one moment and gone the next. We grieve for ourselves. I’ve processed my grief through prayer to the Lord sharing my gut feelings. God fully understands. Journaling in prayer to God and sharing emotions as you write to your loved ones are processes to deal with grief. I journal my feelings in a letter form to those who have died. It makes me feel connected.
My last friend who died battled cancer for two years. I called her almost daily as we lived 850 miles apart. We wrote emails and shared on facebook.com along with our daily chats. My toughest grief is the urge to call her and then instantly realizing she’s with the Lord. I don’t grieve for her. She has the victory! I grieve for myself. When we have a relationship with God, our grief is not hopeless.
Our most important thing we can do for our children is to introduce them to a relationship with God when they are young. We don’t have a promise of tomorrow, but we do have the opportunity to know God. He is our hope in our time of grief.

Carol Clemans is a Cert. Pastoral Counselor/Christian Life Coach/inspirational Bible seminar speaker. She provides counseling nationwide by phone/web cam – (636) 448-0121 – www.carolclemans.org

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