{"id":18550,"date":"2014-03-18T00:05:30","date_gmt":"2014-03-18T04:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=18550"},"modified":"2014-03-17T23:59:02","modified_gmt":"2014-03-18T03:59:02","slug":"18550","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/03\/18\/18550\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesus Understands Mourning"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SeekingHimLogo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We have now entered the season of Lent. \u00a0For many Christians, Lent is taken as a time of preparation for the celebration of Easter where God miraculously redeemed mankind by resurrecting His Son from the dead. It is also a time to consider what Jesus said and did; and how we should be living in light of His Words. \u00a0\u271e \u2665<\/p>\n

During this season, here on the\u00a0Seeking Him<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0devotional blog, we have chosen to focus our devotionals on Jesus\u2019 instructions and admonition communicated in Matthew chapter 5\u2014the Beatitudes. \u00a0Jesus said, \u201cBlessed are\u2026\u201d and He went on to give instruction as to how to be \u201cblessed<\/em>.\u201d \u00a0To be \u2018blessed\u2019 is to \u2018be happy, or to be envied.\u2019 \u00a0 Truly for the Christian, we ARE blessed\u2014oh, how very blessed we are! \u00a0Those who observe our lives should clearly be able to tell that we ARE blessed\u2014and that we KNOW it! \u271e \u2665<\/p>\n

Please consider Jesus\u2019 instructions along with us. \u00a0We pray that our words will encourage you and spur you on to be prepare your hearts for the joyous celebration of His Resurrection! \u00a0\u271e \u2665<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>
\nMatthew 5:4<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Hospice<\/em>. \u00a0This is a place where I live my days. \u00a0As a Bereavement Counselor, I can\u2019t count the number of times that I have said these words of this Scripture. \u00a0Written them, printed them for a family member or a patient or myself even. \u00a0This Scripture is short and sweet. \u00a0The words touch hearts and minds, and remind those who read them that even themselves\u2014the hurting, the scared\u2014have not been forgotten by God. And that He took the time to let them know that He knows their hurt and that His hand is on their lives.<\/p>\n

To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,
\nAnd the day of vengeance of our God;
\nTo comfort all who mourn.
\nIsaiah 61:2<\/p>\n

Jesus knew what it was like to have a broken heart. \u00a0He, Himself, wept. \u00a0He hurt, He cried, and He shed tears. \u00a0He knows.<\/p>\n

Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it,
\nLuke 19:41<\/p>\n

Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping,
\nHe groaned in the spirit and was troubled.
\nJohn 11:33<\/p>\n

Jesus wept.
\nJohn 11:35<\/p>\n

The word mourn<\/span><\/em> is most commonly tied with death…with the loss of a loved one, but that\u2019s not the only case. \u00a0We can mourn<\/span><\/em> any<\/strong> loss. \u00a0Death as well as the loss of a job, of a friendship, of a dream, a divorce, anything. \u00a0And in any case of loss or mourning, He will be there to comfort us, to love us, and to carry us through it. \u00a0My Study Bible pointed out something that I never thought of before. \u00a0It spotlighted the fact that in order to mourn something, we need to have a sensitive heart, and we need to have a tender heart. \u00a0These are two characteristics that are Christ-like. \u00a0So, when we mourn, we work towards developing these characteristics, another example of God working all things for our good.<\/p>\n

* ~\u00a0\u2665\u00a0~\u00a0\u271e<\/strong>\u00a0~\u00a0\u2665~ *<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s Pray<\/strong><\/span>: \u00a0Dear Heavenly Father, mourning hurts…loss hurts. \u00a0Without You, I don\u2019t know how we would cope with the losses we face. \u00a0Thank You for the gentle reminder of Your love and of Your comfort. \u00a0Thank You for showing us Your Son\u2019s realness in sharing the times when He wept and when He hurt, reminding us that there is no wrong in shedding tears. \u00a0Blessed are we, when we mourn, for we will be comforted. \u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, we pray, Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  We have now entered the season of Lent. \u00a0For many Christians, Lent is taken as a time of preparation for the celebration of Easter where God miraculously redeemed mankind by resurrecting His Son from the dead. It is also a time to consider what Jesus said and did; and how we should be living […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":13840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3020],"tags":[127,3367,1287,425,5838,5784,5840,5841,5839,1405,5843,5842,3174,1075],"class_list":["post-18550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-beatitudes","tag-daily-devotions-2","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-isaiah-612","tag-jesus-speaking","tag-john-1133","tag-john-1135","tag-luke-1941","tag-matthew-54","tag-mourn-will-be-comforted","tag-mourning","tag-seeking-him-devotional","tag-tonya-ellison","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s39pHp-18550","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18550"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18553,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18550\/revisions\/18553"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}