Reactions to the flooding disaster have varied, but one commonality is a shared sense of sadness. Those are words from my previous post. As we continue to process feelings of sadness – related to the flooding losses but perhaps other sadness you’re dealing with – we find hope and direction through faith in Jesus.

In an excellent book titled Overcoming Life’s Sorrows, author Reed Lessing has a great chapter called “Overcoming through Expressing Grief.” Here are some of my favorite quotes from the chapter.

“Expressing our pain is the first step toward healing our pain.”

“Take, for instance, the death of a loved one. We don’t lose that person all at once. We lose them in pieces – the mail stops coming, we no longer share stories about our day, their scent gradually fades from our home. Then, just when we think we’re doing better, something is said and the feelings of loss overwhelm us – again!”

“God wants us to lament over what we have lost. Tears bring us back to life. Painful life, to be sure. But life. Tears tell us that our feelings are coming back – that we are coming back. Numbed shock and bottled-up emotions will not have the final say. Weeping leads to restoration.”

“When you suffer, He suffers. Your pain is His pain. Jesus tells Paul, who was ravaging the Church and killing Christians, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ (Acts 9:4, emphasis added).”

“It’s much more liberating to feel and grieve our losses. They are serious. They are weighty and difficult. They are real. They will never stop being a part of our lives. Nevertheless, we are not the primary carrier of those losses. Jesus is.”

Sometimes it’s hard to know what to do with our sadness. We can take Dr. Lessing’s reflections to heart. When we allow ourselves to feel our feelings, we make room for God to do His healing work in our lives. And that healing work is centered on Jesus, who suffers with us and carries our burdens with us.