sharing your survivor story

It is temtping to use Cliches to help explain the bad things that happen in people's lives. Some well-intentioned people say:

1. God has a plan.
2. Things will work out good in the end.
3. The strongest steel goes through the hottest fire.
4. If God didn't think you could handle this He wouldn't give this load to carry.
5. He is testing your faith.
6. The window of life can only be viewed through the pane (pain) of loss.

We could debate for a long time how many of these cliches are true--but that isn't the point. The point is we are trying to comfort the person. If it doesn't comfort, we don't say it.

May you learn to LISTEN rather than talk.

Let us weep with those who weep!

Hello Comfort Class Members,

Have you been praying, asking God to help you learn how to comfort people--every day?

Do you practice your listening skills? Listening is the foundation for comforting others.

Have you selected someone in the congregation and made a commitment to become their comfort coordinator?

What special tools and gifts do you possess that will enable you to comfort others?

Thanks for spending the last 14 Sundays with me--I learned a great deal from you!

Let us weep with those who weep, and rejoice with those who rejoice!

A difficult date can be one of 2 things. A difficult date can be a date that once had positive meanings. For, example, a loved one's birthday, an anniversary, or a special occassion. After a death, that same date becomes a difficult date because it now results in sadness.

A difficult can also be a previous neutral date. For example, if a loved one dies or is injured on July 17th. then July 17th takes on new meaning--a negative meaning. It marks a time when things were good or normal, and then their world is no longer normal. This event caused pain and hardship. Every year the difficult date can cause pain and sorrow.

We should offer support and comfort to those we care about on their difficult dates.

Heartache is very difficult to explain or to describe. When we experience a loss the hurt is very deep and very real. It may feel like a deep ache, and hurt that touches our inner being. It is over time and grief work that this heartache lessens. We must telll our story (share our survivor story) in order for healing to take place.

Journaling is also a balm for heartache. Write out your feelings by allowing your words and the tears to flow.

Start today!

In John chapter 11 we read that a woman said to Jesus, "if only you had come our brother Lazarus would still be alive." These words have been repeated countless times after we pray that our loved one will live and yet sometimes they die.

If is the biggest litle word in the English language.

In most cases if there is an "if only" in the grief journey, the journey takes a little longer to get to a place where life is ok again.

Please share your "if only" so that others may know how you have over come it.

When a life has ended before it should you realize how fragile life is.

Some say that God gave us tears to wash away the pain.

There is no scale to measure the pain one feels when one's child dies.

Your assumptive world can change in one awful moment.

May today begin your journey of healing.

peace.

survivorsofsuicide.com is a very good website.

We are all survivors. Regardless of our life story we can share some trauma that we survived. To help heal the hurt we need to share our story of survival.

This blog will be a tool for sharing.

For me, the most difficult thing to survive was the suicide of my son.

What was it for you?

It was only with the help of my family, my congregation, and God that I have survived to help others.

May you share your survivor story, and by doing so, help others survive.