Faith Filled Family Magazine August 2016 | Page 30

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. Fantasy vs. Reality - spending most of one’s time in
their own world. This is close to
Denial, but has its own unique
qualities. We all use our imagination as a way to handle pain.
However, though having fanciful
thoughts may occur, reality must
eventually be faced.

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. Release - the beginning
of the re-expression of the
pain of the loss. The feelings
expressed may include anger,
fear, hurt or sadness. Often the
church looks down on someone expressing ‘negative emotions”. Yet Jesus Himself stated,
‘blessed are they that mourn for
they shall be comforted”.

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. Living with the memories
- the beginning of the adjustment period. Both positive and
negative reminiscences will
occur and the person will begin
to put the relationship into proper
perspective.

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. Acceptance and Affirmation
of Life, which often includes
forgiveness for the one who left,
and forgiveness of the self this
is a final step of courage, allowing one to move ahead again,
embracing life in all its fullness.
As Jan continued to talk about
her pain, we were able to pray
and assist her to come to grips
with the loss, and to come to lovingly accept that her father was
gone, and her hopes for a relationship with him were gone.
For many in the Body of Christ,
the burden they carry seems too
great to bear. Certainly, the Lord
Jesus Christ knows our sorrows, and is able to assist us to
become whole again. We as the

people of God can help in this
process by understanding the
grief process, and by assisting
them to the Master who is able to
bare the burdens we carry. More
next time.

to pray and rejuvenate Himself
with His Father? It is not that
the needs are greater now, nor
that the power of God was more
available then than now, but
perhaps our approach to ministry has been in the wrong direction Jesus’ primary task on earth
was to introduce the Kingdom
Age, provide for our salvation,
and to train men and women to
make disciples throughout all
the earth. His plan, -continued
on through the Apostles after His
Ascension, seems to have been
to do much the same. He did not
use the religious (excepting perhaps Nicodemas, Joseph of Arimethea and the Apostle Paul),
but the available, the foolish to
confound the wise. I am convinced that that is still His plan
for today. -

Almost daily in the course of my
role as a Marriage and Family
Counselor, I am confronted by
men and women with hurts of
an extreme nature. As a trained
counselor, I am supposed to
have the words of wisdom and
comfort which will soothe and
heal the wounded heart. Unfortunately, as many other counselors
and pastors will attest, I am woefully unable to bring the answers
to the distress of many. Though
my efforts are usually with good
and noble intention (1 really want
to help), I recognize that I cannot
help all nor will one man make a
dent in the mass of human suf- God has called each Christian
fering we face.
to be first a believer, then a disciple, then a minister. It was to
I believe every minister, and cer- the disciple becoming a minister
tainly every counselor has at one (not ordained, but they would
time or another cried out to the be included) that the AposLord Jesus Christ in utter hope- tle Paul was writing, when he
lessness. “Help, the load is too addressed the distressed of his
great”. When faced with the man- day; In 2 Corinthians, the First
date found in the Word of God, Chapter, Paul speaks to the treto “Carry one another’s burdens mendous need, and the Lord’s
and thus fulfill the law of Christ” gracious provision for the hurt(Gal. 6:2), and then to survey the ing, distressed, discouraged and
expanse of the problems, it is depressed. It reads:
no wonder many will give up the
quest and become either cynics vi.
Paul, an apostle of Jesus
or philosophers.
Christ, by the will of God, and
Timothy, our brother, to the
We are certainly not alone in our church of God, which is at
modem era in sensing the frus- Corinth, with all the saints who
tration of the overwhelming need are in Achaia
to minister to the needs of man. vii. . Grace to you and peace
Did not Jesus Himself feed the from God our Father and the
people when they were in need, Lord Jesus Christ.
heal the sick arid all who were viii. . Blessed be the God and
oppressed of the devil, and at the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
same time retire to a quiet place the Father of mercies and God