Happy Tuesday

Grief
Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief. --Psalm 31:9

Author Edgar Jackson describes grief:

"Grief is the silent, knife-like terror and sadness that comes a hundred times a day, when you start to speak to someone who is no longer there.

"Grief is the emptiness that comes when you eat alone after eating with another for many years.

"Grief is teaching yourself to go to bed without saying good night to the one who has died.

"Grief is the helpless wishing that things were different when you know they are not and never will be again.

"Grief is a whole cluster of adjustments, apprehensions, and uncertainties that strike life in its forward progress and make it difficult to redirect the energies of life."

Few things are as painful as grief-especially when having to adjust to the loss of a spouse. Even though we all know that death will one day come to each one of us, we still can never be prepared enough to deal with the sense of loss and intense sadness that comes when death takes a loved one.

If you are dealing with grief, then you can find healing in a grief recovery group through your local church, senior center, or hospital. There are others out there who have dealt with grief and mended from the loss of a loved one before. Begin searching for that person with whom you can share your thoughts, feelings, and tears.

Finally and above all, seek healing in the arms of the Lord and His Word. It's only natural to ask Him "Why?" and "How come?" when someone we love passes away. But He is the ultimate Healer of our hearts and sovereign in His timing.

PRAYER CHALLENGE: Ask God to give you strength to take steps forward toward healing if you are experiencing grief. Pray that He would give you someone to share with in your journey.


Daily Smile:
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Pettry amzanig huh?

In The News:

Same-Sex Marriage Now Legal in More Than 1 in 5 States

With congressional votes less than a week apart from each other, Rhode Island and Delaware both have legalized same-sex marriage, which, according to The New York Times, represents the "latest in a string of victories for those working to extend marital rights to gay and lesbian couples," Christianity Today reports. Rhode Island came first, following what the Associated Press called "a 16-year effort to extend marriage rights in this heavily Roman Catholic state." Days later, Delaware became the 11th state to legalize gay marriage. Similar votes will soon take place in Minnesota and Illinois, where the GOP chair recently resigned over the issue. However, in spite of the recent victories for gay marriage supporters, the Times notes that "short of a sweeping decision by the Supreme Court that same-sex marriage is a right, change could come more slowly in the coming years. Thirty states have adopted constitutional amendments limiting marriage to a man and a woman -- measures that can be reversed only with public ballots."

  

Tamerlan Tsarnaev Buried at Muslim Cemetery in Virginia

The body of Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was reportedly buried in a Muslim cemetery in a small town in central Virginia, about 15 miles away from Richmond, the Washington Times reports. Al-Barzakh Cemetery in Doswell, the first Muslim cemetery in the region, has interred Tsarnaev's remains, according to the Boston Globe. The interment came after a Virginia woman saw the protests outside a Worcester, Mass., funeral home that was storing Tsarnaev's body. Nobody wanted him buried locally, and she decided to help by contacting the Islamic Society of Greater Richmond and asking if members could help find a burial ground for the body. Society members found the Doswell cemetery and moved Tsarnaev on Wednesday evening, the Globe reported. Tsarnaev, 26, died during a shootout with police in Watertown, Mass. His brother and fellow bombing suspect, Dzhohkar, 19, is recovering from gunshot wounds.