3: Grief & Gratitude: Learning to Make Space for Both

In today’s episode, Brittany, Elizabeth, and Kelly talk about grief and gratitude and learning to make space for both in our hearts over time.

The bible offers us two seemingly contradictory declarations:

“I will offer a sacrifice of praise and call on the name of the LORD.” Psalms 116:17

“Blessed are they who mourn.” Matthew 5:4

I have to learn to hold both grief and gratitude, but what if I don’t even know how to approach a God who let my child die?

Can we have faith that God is present and active in our lives and in our grief even when He is silent? How can I learn to hope again after the Lord allowed my child to die?

The complexity is that even though you have let me down, Lord, in this one huge way, you have come through for me in so many other ways. And I believe you are coming through for me in my grief too.

We can also have peace when we wrestle with God – he can handle it!

During times of suffering, our first thought is seldom Thanksgiving. Offering thanksgiving from a broken heart is a sacrifice. By definition, sacrifice implies an offering to God that costs us something.

Can grief and gratitude abide together? They must because the Bible calls us to both. Christ has risen from the dead, but my children’s bodies remain in the grave. How do we approach a God who could have chosen to heal our children but, for reasons known only to Him, didn’t? God isn’t afraid of our tough questions and emotional angst. Our sorrow does not negate our gratitude; rather, it accentuates it.

Grief and gratitude can abide together because they share a deeper emotion—love.

Grief and Gratitude can coexist. Slowly over time, we will be able to hold them both intentionally in one hand.