Today’ Mary DeMuth continues her discussion of what we can do to revere God in the way we handle difficult relationships (Chapter 3, The Wall Around Your Heart).
2. Lament when you’re hurt. Mary explains that to get beyond the pain of adversity, we must acknowledge the pain first in order to move on later. Embracing lament for a time is part of the grieving process.
Embracing lament for a time also is a healthy reaction to our pain, in contrast to unhealthy reactions such as nursing our wounds or lashing out. In particular, the Lament Psalms:
a. offer encouragement in painful situations
b. start with a rant and end in praise
c. are a great road map for us in our hurt
d. help us revere God even when we’re bewildered
Mary states that a very cathartic exercise is to write out a personal lament. We need to give ourselves permission to say it all, to be raw and honest with God. God will not be surprised, because He already knows our thoughts. But raw honesty will put us on the pathway to praise, helping us turn the corner, the author states, “from angst to alleluia.”
Joyful lives result from living in gratitude toward God. Mary concludes:
“The roadblocks to growth and joy come when we forget the bigness of God and instead make people bigger than He is.”
Today’s question: Following your vocation loss, how have you been intentional in following the pathway to praise? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Let Jesus be Jesus”
