Isaiah 53:3–He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; 
and as one from whom men hide their faces 
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
 
Today my family will celebrate my closest aunt’s life in a funeral service in Detroit, Michigan.  What the Bible calls the “sting of death” is hard on anyone who has experienced close friends or family pass away.  The hardest thing I have found in dealing with the grief of death, is to affirm how painful it is, and trust that you will find peace for it…
This is why I think dealing with death as an unbeliever and believer are worlds apart.  When I experienced grief like this 16 years ago with the passing of my grandparents, one very tragically.  I had no place to go with my emotions, I just felt so alone with how I felt about it.  No amount of comforting words, or anything else could help counsel the grief, so I didn’t affirm it’s affect, just so I could function properly…
Though the “sting of death” didn’t change, I have experienced as a believer this time around how well God has counseled me through it.  That in Christ there is a place I can go where He understands, being “acquainted with grief”.  So I learned that it is O.K. to cry and be fully honest with grief, because the healing for it isn’t denial, but talking to Jesus our Wonderful Counselor!
Different measures of grief comes in many ways besides death.  That is why I think we can struggle to find joy in everyday life, because instead of affirming our disappointment and talking to Christ, we just “deal with it”.  But the Word reveals Christ nature towards us, so we realize He understands and we can come to Him.  Allow Him to counsel you through any measure of grief, He is well acquainted with it, and equipped to handle it.
In His Love, Ld