Introduction to My “Living In The Different” Blog

Grief has changed me.  I recognize life is different.  Different isn’t bad, it’s just different.  It is learning how to live in this different knowing life will never be the same again. I have learned in the changes and knowing that love never ends, it just takes a different form.  Grief will be with me in some form, too, throughout the rest of my life.

I will be sharing random thoughts through this blog about my own grief and how I am living in this different life.  I will share what is hard, and also how I have embraced the alone time and strengthened my relationship with God. I will share some of the insights I have gained through Scriptures and how they relate to the journey of grief.

My friend, Ruth, did not like the word “grief.”  She felt it was a negative word. She was fine using sorrow and loss, but not staying in the sadness.  Ruth’s husband had died 30 years ago and he was just as present in her heart today as he was 30 years ago.  For her and for me, love never dies and our loved one lives on within our hearts.

My sadness is not for my loved ones.  I know they are in heaven, rejoicing with our Heavenly Father and seeing Jesus face to face.  They are whole and happy. The sadness is for the hole that is in my heart, the hole that is in my life when they physically left this world.  My heart aches in the quiet times of loneliness when I miss my loved one’s companionship, laughter, touch and presence.

As I journey through my grief and you journey with me through these writings, my prayer is that we embrace the legacy of our loved ones and how they made a difference in our lives.  My hope is that together we learn to live in this different life and embrace the love God has given to us through Jesus, and find hope and a good future.

“I say this because I know what I am planning for you,” says the Lord.  “I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you, I will give you hope and a good future.”Jeremiah 29:11 (NCV)