Loss?

Stop looking at what you have lost, so you can see what you have.

Loss isn't easy. Because when you lose something, your mind automatically shifts into a place where you blame yourself (or come real close) for letting that thing or someone slip away.
There are some things, yes, that you could have done better but then there are others that you absolutely have NO control over.

So if you are about to lose something and you can feel it slipping away, and you know it's better for you if it's gone....then, by all means and for the sake of your sanity - gladly say goodbye. But if you have lost something or someone and you didn't have full control while you had it, then you certainly cannot do anything about it now that it's no longer in your possession.

However, the trick with loss is that if you aren't careful, you'll spend a whole lot of time in mourning and hardly anytime in living.

It is absolutely okay to have a grieving period, but as my husband will say "determine in your heart how long you will be in that timeframe. Because when that time comes, crying is over and real life begins"!

Don't get lost in loss; live fully with what you do have. Everything and everyone around you is counting on you ;). YOU are counting on you!

Loss or open door

Every time there are losses, there are choices to be made. You choose to live your losses as passages to anger, blame, hatred, depression and resentment, or you choose to let these losses be passages to something new, something wider, and deeper ~ Henri Nouwen

We certainly can't win everything, though we may want to. The test of character comes when the loss happens.

It all depends on how you handle each situation. We should be growing from every experience, but sometimes that's not the case.

How do you handle loss? Do you go off acting absolutely outside yourself? Or do you find an open door in the midst of that loss....in hopes for newness and restoration?
It's all up to you!

Happy Thursday!

Job's Essential Lesson

Job's name has become a synonym for the suffering of life's derailments. Actually, "derailment" is too weak a word to describe what happened.  He lost everything: children, health, riches, the support of his friends and wife, and apparently the love of the God he had trusted and loved for so long.

What did he do when life came to a halt? The Bible says he "got up and tore his robe and shaved his head.  Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart.  The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised' " (Job 1:20-21).

Job's perspective wiped the "why me, woe is me?" question from his mind.  He recognized that he had nothing when he arrived on this planet, and he would have nothing when he left it.  His nakedness was a dress rehearsal for his death and a remembrance of his birth.  In the end, it will have gone full circle and he would be back where he started; with nothing and no one but GOD.

Self Builders:

1. What are some of the struggles and losses you're experiencing right now?
2. How are you able to love and trust God, despite these painful experiences?