RUNNING
FROM PAIN

Topics: Mourning; Pain; Sorrow

References: Matthew 5:4; John 16:20; 1 Thessalonians 4:13

What should people do when dealing with loss? I recently asked a seasoned Christian counselor about that. “I tell them to feel their feelings,” she said. “But I also urge people to reduce radically the pace of their lives. I urge them to review their loss, talk about it openly, think about it thoroughly, write about it reflectively, and pray through it.”

She continued, “It’s my experience that people want to run from their pain. They want to replace pain with another feeling as soon as they can. To recover from pain, you have to face it. You must stand in it and process it before it will dissipate. That’s God’s way.”

I didn’t grieve well when my father died; I replaced pain real fast. I think I missed only four days of work. And I just replaced the feeling of loss and disappointment with a frenzied ministry schedule. In short, I ran from grief. That was a bad move for me and for people around me.

I wonder how many of us do that. Is anybody running from pain today? Are you trading in your pain prematurely for some other feeling? That’s not God’s way.

—Bill Hybels, “A Better Kind of Grieving,” Preaching Today Audio, no. 108