To View the Video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/end-AdIVC0o
SHOW NOTES
Welcome back to a new episode of the Hope Rescue Podcast. We hope you didn’t forget us as we took a short break over the past few weeks. Tim and Kimberly originally intended to take a break for a few weeks for their anniversary trip, but as you will come to find out, their lives took a turn and they had to take a few more weeks than originally planned. Keep reading to find out why.
In April, a listener reached out to us and asked if Tim and Kimberly would be willing to discuss grief from a biblical perspective on the podcast. This listener had recently lost a very close family member and was struggling with debilitating depression because of the loss. As Tim and Kimberly were preparing material for the podcast on grief, Kimberly’s father was diagnosed with COVID and shortly after his diagnosis, he passed away. This loss rocked Tim and Kimberly’s world, and provided them with first-hand experience to now discuss grief in-depth.
Tim starts the discussion by sharing that grief is different for each person. Grief is unique to the relationship we have with the person we lose. It's unique to our understanding of who God is. It's unique to our journey of faith and where we are in our lives. If you are experiencing grief right now, don’t compare your journey of grief to anyone else's.
Kimberly explains that from the time she was a little girl, her father had had multiple near death experiences. As an overseas missionary, her father found himself in some scary and dangerous situations. One time her father was pronounced dead at the hospital, but as the doctors kept working they were able to bring him back. That is the day that Kimberly realized this: we are not given one extra day beyond God's purpose for our lives, but we are also not shortchanged a single moment beyond what he's called us to do. Kimberly explains that as she has grieved her father, she has felt a range of emotions from sadness to sorrow to joy. She has good days and bad days. This is unique for Kimberly, and it’s okay if her grief doesn’t look exactly the same as someone else’s grief.
Tim shares 1 Thessalonians 4:13 which says, “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.” As believers, the bible does not say we should never grieve. We are instructed to grieve, but in a different manner than those without hope. As believers, we know that one day we will be in heaven with other believers who have passed. Kimberly knows that when she passes away, she will be in heaven with her father. Hope is not about how long we live in this life. Hope is about life on the other side of this one. As believers, when another believer passes away we don't have to feel despair because we know that person is now present with the Lord.
Join us next week as we continue the discussion on grief and break down the importance of 1 Thessalonians 4:13. If you have any questions or comments feel free to email us at info@hoperescue.org or message us on social media.
QUOTES
“We are not given one extra day beyond God's purpose for our lives, but we are also not shortchanged a single moment beyond what he's called us to do.” -Kimberly
“Hope is not about how long we live in this life. Hope is about life on the other side of this one.” -Tim
REFERENCED SCRIPTURE
1 Thessalonians 4:13 “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.”
