What do you do when your weary? I love a good a definition, it helps us form a mental picture of the meaning of a word.
Weariness feels like you’ve been running in place for hours but you haven’t moved an inch.
Wearines is a state of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual exhaustion.
It can make you feel trapped, with lack of purpose with no strength to push forward.
If this is you right now and you don’t see a way forward to face another year without your child,
then today’s episode is for you!!
I’m sharing with you what I do when I’m weary, and giving you inspiration on how to face the New Year with Hope.
REGISTER TODAY!!
The 2nd Live Grief Mentor Masterclas is....January 13th and 14th!!
It's a 2 day event this year!! That means more door prizes for you friend!! AND!!!! IT'S FREE!!!
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REGISTER HERE FOR THE LIVE COFFEE CHAT FOR BOTH DAYS!
What do you do in your weary? I love a good definition. It helps us form a mental picture of the meaning of a word. Weirdness feels like we've been running in place for hours, but you haven't moved an inch. Weirdness is a state of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual exhaustion. It can make you feel trapped with lack of purpose, with no strength to move forward. If this is you right now and you don't see a way forward to face another year without your child, then today's episode is for you, friend. I'm gonna share with you what I do when I'm weary and give you inspiration on how to face the new year with hope. If you're grieving the death of your child and you want the steps that lead to believing with confidence that life is still worth living, then you're in the right place. Hello, I'm Teresa, a grief mentor. That's been where you are. And I teach grieving moms like you how to navigate life after child loss. If you're ready to take a step of courage and build a solid foundation to live with hope and purpose, then I'm here to teach you how. Are you ready for what God has for you? Then I'm ready to teach you. There are two public figures that significantly affected my early grief, and I'm gonna share one of them with you today. Lauren Daggle had just released her new album, "Look Up Child" in September, 2018. One night in early November, 2018, Tony and I were helping Andrew work on his furnace in the house. The guys left to go get some parts that they needed and I was alone and there was no heat, it was pretty cold. And I was wrapped up in my coat and gloves. It's amazing to me how vividly I remember this night. I believe this because God knew my future, and he wanted me to have this moment to teach me what I needed to know. There are many elements to this story that amaze me even to this day. I didn't have earbuds and Andrew left his for me to try. I popped them in my ears and I paired them with my phone. And then I began to belt out the words of the song. I remember I was dancing and praising God for bringing Andrew and Erica close to home so that we could do life together for the first time. They'd always lived away and though we made all the effort to make sure that we saw each other often, it's not the same as living 10 minutes from each other. The course of that song says I remember you've always been faithful to me even when my eyes couldn't see. I can't stop thinking about your goodness. I was overjoyed that night and so thankful for the first time since they were married that we were gonna be able to see each other as much as we wanted. My mom's heart was full. 30 days later, Andrew left this earth. This event that occurred in their living room disappeared from my memory. Until God in his perfect timing reminded me. In my lament and questioning of him and his faithfulness, he said to me one day in my spirit, Teresa, do you remember that day in Andrew's living room when you were raising the roof with your praise? I'm that same God. My friend, it stopped me in my tracks. Literally, I was stunned with the memory, one because I had completely forgot about it. But because he brought it back to me, I remember every detail about that night, including how I felt about how God himself had been so good to me in that moment. It revealed to me the shallowness of my faith. Because how could the same God be good in that moment and not be good in my present moment? It taught me that I had circumstantial faith, that God was only good if things were good for me in my life. It was a sobering moment for me friend. It taught me that I had much to learn. Is this you? Are you stuck on whether God is your friend or your foe? Then stick with me friend. I have something to teach you today. Have you registered for the grief master class? If not, there is no time like the present. Christmas is over and the new year is coming quickly friend. It'll be here in just two days. Why not start out the new year with new hope for your grief journey? I have so much to teach you from first steps to what it takes to build a solid foundation to support you in your grief journey, to learning what it takes to have confidence that life is still worth living. Listen, this is important. You have paid a great cost in the suffering of the death of your child. Do you want it to end there? Do you want to live inside that cost for the rest of your life? Or do you want to learn what the Holy Spirit wants to teach you about the cost that you've paid? Come sit with me for two days and learn what it takes to have courage to do the hard work of grief that'll lead you on a journey where you will be able to believe with confidence that yes, I'm going to make it and life is still worth living. I'm offering something special this year and that's an opportunity for you to get to know me a little better and ask those deeper questions about your grief journey. After the live master class, you will have an additional 45 minutes with me where you can unmute your mic and have a conversation with me. Register for the live master class and then after you register, you'll be offered the link to join me in the live coffee chat. If you are concerned about not showing a live video during the live Zoom call, no worries friend, you do not have to turn your camera on at all, but it won't prevent you from participating in the class. But you do have to register. My daughter will have the registration list and those are the ones that she will allow to come into the Zoom room. In this day and age, friends, we have to protect that space and I am very protective of you grieving moms that God has placed in front of me to teach what he wants you to hear. So I want to make sure that is a safe environment. So no one can attend unless you register and don't forget that live coffee chat where I can get to know you a little better and you can get to know me a little better and get some of those deeper questions asked. Now I want to teach you something today. In the opening, I describe what it feels like to be weary. That feeling that nothing in life is right and you're exhausted with trying to make it right. Do you want the word of God to comfort you instead of confusing you? Do you want your prayer time with Jesus to change your life? I learned something this week at church. When Jesus was walking this earth, prayer was not the last resort. It was his first resort. Our teaching pastor Matt said something that stuck with me. He said, Jesus never walked around with his hands on his hips and said, well, all we have left to do now is pray, no friend, it was a complete opposite. But isn't that our mindset? We think to ourselves, oh, we've done all we can do now. So let's pray. We have it all backwards. Prayer is our offense and our defense. Now I know what you're thinking because I've been where you are. You're saying to yourself, why pray? He didn't answer my prayer or did he? I'll let you think about that one for a minute. After the death of your child, prayer takes on a whole new meaning. When prayer becomes your lifeline, Jesus becomes your everything. I have a question for you today. Is Jesus your everything? Or do you still think you're in control of your life? But then I will win her back once again and I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her and transfer the Valley of Death into a gateway of hope. She will give herself to me there, as she did when she was young, when I freed her from her captivity in Egypt. When that day comes, says the Lord, you will call me husband instead of master. Hosea 3, 14 through 16 new living translation. The tenderness of these verses, friend, are remarkable. It speaks to the kind of love the Father has for you. He wants to win you back and show you the kind of love that's intimate. The enemy has a way of twisting everything that the Word of God says in his favor. And that's what I mean when I say, he wants to win you back and show you the kind of love that he has for you. That's very intimate. I read some commentary on this verse. Spurgeon said that this verse says he will quote, "win her back." Doesn't mean that he's gonna drag her or force her. No, he's talking about Israel. The book of Hosea comes right after the book of Daniel. And if you'll remember God's people were still in captivity and they had built idols to worship. They had taken on the Baal gods as their God. So this verse is speaking about how God is gonna win her back. And it's very applicable to you and I here, friend. So Spurgeon says that this verse, when it says he's gonna win her back, does it mean that he's gonna drag her or force her? Which means he's not gonna drag you, friend. He's not gonna force you. No, it means that God's love surpasses in power all other forces. He goes on to say that God will outbid the devil. And he will win us to himself by fascinations, enticements and allurements which shall be stronger than any force of resistance we may offer. See, here's the truth, friend. God is not satisfied nor does he want a fear-based obedience focused relationship with his people. Where you think of him primarily as a master, right? Let me read that verse to you again. But then I will win her back once again and I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her and transfer the Valley of trouble into a gateway of hope. She will give herself to me there as she did when she was young when I freed her from her captivity in Egypt. When that day comes says the Lord, you will call me husband instead of master. God is not satisfied nor does he desire a fear-based obedience focused relationship with his people where you think of him primarily as a master. No friend, he desires to have an intimate relationship with you that surpasses all other forces. Do you know what I do when I'm weary? When the heaviness of a doll sits on my chest like a heavyweight, when I wonder if what I'm doing here on the podcast is making a difference in your life? Because I don't know if it's making a difference in your life or not unless you leave me a review or reach out to me. But what I do when my heart is heavy with weariness, the weariness of living here without Andrew, just the weariness of everyday life, the weariness of it all, the weight of living here on this earth. What I do when I'm weary is friend I praise him. I lift my head toward the heavens and I raise my hand as high as I can. Sometimes I even get on my tippy toes and I reach even higher thinking about the day when the righteous right arm of God is gonna reach down and grab my hand and take me home. I do this in my office. I do it in my car and especially in corporate worship. There is no place that I would rather be than in the presence of other believers in a corporate setting like church or an event where voices are raising the roof with praise. I received some comments about a phrase I used in Saturday's episode. I referred to grief as an island. I don't know where that came from. It wasn't in my notes, the Holy Spirit just put those words in my mouth. But here's what I have to say about that friend. You need community. Grief does feel like an island, but it doesn't have to. In fact, I'll go as far as to say that if you stay on grief island, you will never reach a place where you will believe with confidence that you can live again and not just live again, friend, but live with hope for your future. Do you know that confidence is a sign of internal strength? That's what I wanna teach you on January 13th and 14th. How to have that internal strength, strength that cannot be explained with human intelligence. Will you join me? Hit the link to register in that email that I sent you this morning. Not a grief mentor insider? Click the link in the show notes and after you register for the masterclass, join me for the live coffee chat. I promise that what you will receive from our time together will be better than any coffee that you've ever experienced. Not because of my words, friend, but because of his words. I wanna share with you one last thing. On that night, I told you about an Andrew's living room where I was singing and praising God for his goodness. I told you that Andrew left his earpods for me. When I placed them in my ears, they paired with my phone. One of the gifts from that moment is Andrew's earbuds are still paired on my phone. Every time I open my phone to Bluetooth, it says Andrew's earbuds. I don't understand how this is still on my phone, but is a constant reminder of God's goodness to me regardless of what my circumstances may be. He is always working all things out to bring good from it, friend. It doesn't mean that our circumstances are always good, but it does mean that he loves you with an everlasting love that cannot be destroyed by your circumstances. So this week, when you feel the heaviness of facing another year without your child by your side, I want you to praise him. Go to my website, get the grief worship playlist that I've created that I personally use and praise him, friend. Do it in the privacy of your own home. Do it in your car. Do it wherever you are. Praise him, friend. I promise you, when you do that, the weariness will lift and he will give you supernatural peace that you cannot explain. And that's all I have for you today. So until next time, take care. Friend, stop what you're doing right now and register for the live grief masterclass. Find the link in the show notes or the link in the email that I sent you if you're a grief mentor insider. If you cannot access any of those links, reach out to me at tereesa@thegriefmentor.com and I will personally send you a link. I cannot wait to meet you. (gentle music)
