Empty, angry, alone? You know these feelings if you’ve endured a loss. You know how grief rips through your heart, making you feel like life will never be the same. Truthfully, it won’t!

Time will NOT erase all your pain. You won’t EVER slip back into your old comfortable routine. When you experience a loss, your life is forever changed and your “normal” vanishes. That doesn’t mean hope is lost. Things may never get back to normal, but eventually you will settle into a “new normal” − you’ll develop a new routine, a new mindset. Your pain will ease, and your heart will begin to heal. That may seem impossible now but God made you resilient. He knows you. He knows your heart. He created you to function and grow in a world that constantly changes. He has a perfect plan for your life that cannot be destroyed by any amount of sorrow. Lean on Him, the God of All Comfort, to lead you out of loss and into new life.

Steps to Letting Go:

• Talk about the history you have shared with that which is lost. Acknowledge that history as a permanent part of your past but no longer a part of your present.

• Express any unfinished business regarding the past and resolve any remaining issues or feelings (such as regrets, resentments, grievances, or guilt), emptying them out and bringing them to closure.

• Choose to forgive whatever offenses you may still be harboring and let go of any thoughts of revenge.

• Release the past to the past and commit to cease trying to make it a part of your present and your future. Trust these words … “You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by.” (Job 11:16)

DO what God Says: “Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Colossians 3:12-13)

Emmaus Centre Christian Counseling is available on Thursdays from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. at First Baptist Church, New Tazewell. For appointments call 423-626-5401.