Sometimes it feels like chance…

If I could only be like I was before. I know I’ve thought that. Loss, we feel it all the time- more than we acknowledge. Loss can be something as simple as finishing that amazing steak we were eating and losing the joy it brought us while consuming it. It could also be the loss of identity, sense of purpose, or maybe a leg. Loss takes on many forms- as we grow up we lose our childhood, innocence, and have to take on the weight of responsibility. Many wives lament the loss of who their husband USED to be. War changes us- there’s no denying that. If you’ve lost the use of a body part or lost it all together; If you’ve lost fine motor skills, your short-term memory, or the ability to concentrate; if you’ve lost your sense of peace and find yourself constantly on edge- things change. It’s not that you need to accept that this is “the new normal.” I know many people hate that phrase, but we need to accept that change has occurred and things will never be like they were before. If you had a completely boring life, age would still change you and lead you to long for the days when you were younger and could do more. Change happens to everyone if they want it or not. We view this change as loss and grieve it in different ways. Finding healthy ways to deal with loss is key to surviving.

My body hurts right now. This weather makes me want to do nothing- but if I follow that instinct I only suffer more. Numbing the pain doesn’t help me get better- it makes it worse. Push through, overcome, make the pain mean something. This life is shorter than we think and with the right attitude we CAN make it better. In the end, with faith in Christ I will be given a new heavenly body in which there will be no more pain and suffering. If I lose myself to Christ, I gain everything.
Over.

Ecclesiastes 7:10 “Don’t long for “the good old days.” This is not wise.”

Revelation 21:4 “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There won’t be any more death. There won’t be any grief, crying, or pain, because the first things have disappeared.”

Philippians 3:8-9 “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith”

Drew Out.