stress

Soul Care When You’re Grieving

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This month’s post differs from my normal blogs. I chose to write a short book review on the newly released Soul Care When You’re Grieving by Edie Mahoney Melson. This third book in the Soul Care series helps through not only the loss of a loved one, but losses of something of personal value, of a job loss, a relationship, or anything of worth to someone. Melson leads the reader through processing grief beyond just words on a page. She includes the reader in interactive exercises, assisting each closer to personal healing.
To quote her, “I’ve learned—-through experiences I wouldn’t have chosen—that joy comes. But it arrives when we don’t expect it. The key to embracing a new attitude is not to squash the joy when it appears. Accept it. Enjoy it! And don’t give into the guilt that hovers in the background. Joy will come more and more often as you travel further away from the furnace and into a new rhythm of life.” (p. 154)

I urge you to purchase not only a copy for yourself, but several as gifts for others as well. It’s available now from Amazon, Bookbub, Christian Book Distributors and Barnes and Noble.

Edie Melson is an author, blogger, and speaker around the world. Her numerous books reflect her passion to help others develop the strength of their God-given gifts and apply those to life.

This entry was posted in Christian walk, Devotional, fire, Friendship, God, Healing, Heartache, Injury, Jesus, Joy, Life, Pain, pressure, Recovery, Scars, Strength, stress, Tragedy, Wounds and tagged , , , , , , .

Pressure Washer

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Proverbs 25:4 NASB

4 Take away the impurities from the silver,
And there comes out a vessel for the smith;

Sometimes I imagine myself as if in a washer, tumbling this way and that. And “click,” the spinning of my circumstances pins me to the sideline as I watch my life pass by me.

“Slosh, slosh, slosh, slosh. Click. Pause. WHIRRRRRRRR.”  The washer spins until, “Click,” and I drop to the bottom. I feel different than I did before entering the machine. My heart weighs less because the worries and cares attached there rinsed away. My spirit shines brighter, because the grime of resentment and bitterness slid down the drain during the pressure. I leave the appliance cleaner and lighter, ready for serving the Master as needed.

The hotter the fire the more impurities in the silver rise to the top and removed. Then the silversmith takes it and shapes it into a worthy, useful vessel. So too, the more pressure in our lives, the more ungodliness in our hearts burns away, leaving us a tool for the Lord’s purposes.

Father, Creator of all, make me into one through whom you may touch the lives of others. For your glory and in the name of Jesus, amen.

This entry was posted in anxiety, Breast cancer, Christian walk, Depression, Devotional, fire, God, godliness, Healing, impurities, Injury, Jesus, Joy, Life, Pain, pressure, purity, Recovery, Scars, silver, Strength, stress, Suicide, Tragedy, Verbal attacks, vessel, washer, Wounds.