I have written about this day and topic before but it’s one that bears repeating – and often! Today is National Grief Awareness Day. It was founded in 2014 by Angie Cartwright, a woman well acquainted with pain, suffering, loss, and grief.
By her own admission, she was “conceived during an alcohol-fueled blackout, and born into a life of grief. Her mother was an addict and alcoholic. Angie never knew her real father.”1
From the age of three through all of her teen years, one tragedy after another occurred. Her mother brought many men into the home through the years. At the wheel, one of the boyfriends wrecked the car, causing major injuries to her and leaving her sister with permanent brain damage.
While only five years old, Angie found her 11-month-old sister dead in her crib. Suicides, viruses, cancer, and accidents claimed the lives of many others within her circle of family and friends. Everywhere she turned, Angie could not escape the nightmare in which she lived.
In her early teen years, Angie watched as her brothers were removed from the home, surrendered to Social Services by her mom. Before long, she was bouncing between foster homes herself. Unable to cope, she finally turned to alcohol, drugs, and sex.
Her adult life was filled with more of the same from her childhood with the addition of the homicides of loved ones, the death of her mother, and the death of a husband. Now, she must add a burning anger to all that has already happened.
I wish that I could tell you that she had been rescued by Jesus as someone shared the Gospel with her and she was saved. Maybe that has happened. However, the article on her life tells only about how she turned to social media and began building a platform to help those going through grief. She used her experiences to help others process their experiences and to find help.
Being a Christian doesn’t insulate us from grief. Believers still experience personal heartaches and loss. The difference is that in the midst of our griefs, we receive the consolation of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 says, “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; (4) Who comforteth
us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. (5) For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.”
As the Scripture shows us, we are to use what He has given us during our time of grief to help others who are grieving. The experience wasn’t wasted when we try to help others.
There will be those in church today who are grieving. It’s not always about the death of a loved one. Sometimes, it’s the loss of a friend. It could be a doctor’s report that was troubling. Maybe it’s an unexpected financial situation. Let’s be aware of those hurting around us and try to be helpful and sympathetic.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 tells us, “Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.”
1https://www.theblaze.com/contributions/a-life-of-grief-loss-and-abandonment-leads-to-a-movement-of-hope-love-and-courage
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