Facing the Giant of Grief and LossPrøve

# Be Christ-like, stay in touch ## ‘Better is a neighbour nearby than a brother far away.’ Proverbs 27:10 NKJV A few winters ago in Sweden, an 84-year-old woman sat for two months on her balcony before her neighbours discovered she was dead. They realised something was wrong when they saw her sitting there around the clock, despite the freezing temperatures. One neighbour said, ‘I feel terrible. I hope this makes us stop and think more about one another.’ In one of the lowest moments in David’s life, he wrote, ‘Look on my right hand and see, for there is no one who acknowledges me...I cried out to You, O LORD; I said, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living”’ (Psalm 142:4-5 NKJV). Doctor Philip Zimbardo writes in Psychology Today, ‘I know of no more potent killer than loneliness. It’s the central agent in depression and suicide. It’s the devil’s strategy for isolating us from one another, while creating the delusion that the reasons are...time-pressures...work demands...or anxieties created by economic uncertainty.’ Jesus heard cries that nobody else heard. He noticed people that others had no time for. When the disciples tried to silence blind Bartimaeus, He stopped them and restored his sight. He walked for days to meet with a hurting woman whose heart was as empty as her water pots (see John 4). He’s the Good Shepherd who left 99 sheep in the fold and went out to look for the one that was lost. Do you want to be more like Him? Care about people; let Him love a hurting world through you! #### Prayer Point: Lord, I want to share Your perfect love with more people. Help me to see others through Your eyes so that I become more sensitive to their needs and pain. Let me be a comforter to others in their distress and grief. In Jesus' name, Amen.