Last week's blog, " So Long to a Dear One", inspired by the love I continue to hold for my late sister, Darlene, struck a cord in many of you as I received very heart felt, warm and caring responses.  (I truly appreciate responses, by the way.  They let me know that  people are actually reading and they inspire me to continue writing.  So, thank-you!) Through the responses, it became obvious that many of us feel grief, pain and moments of hopelessness, but do not often share these feelings with others.   In this weeks blog, I will hopefully continue to shed light upon a deep, dark emotion.....

From Grief to Belief

Grief.....the raw, dark, and utterly hopeless feelings that accompany a loss can be debilitating.    We find ourselves wanting to deny the loss and then we may become very angry when we realize that the loss is real.  We may blame others, ourselves, God and lash out in a multitude of ways.  As we begin to realize that the anger is only causing deeper pain, we begin to ask questions, make compromises or even attempt to bargain to somehow "return" the loss.  Nothing seems to make sense.  Life was being lived, shared, enjoyed and then in some "moment" in time, that all changed as someone connected to our heart and soul was removed. The depression and despair serve as a time of darkness during which we may lose faith and hope and question if we can trust our hearts to truly love again.
Break-ups, divorce, death, any type of loss will send us into a spiral of emotions that may all lead to a lack of faith. We may simply stop believing that life can hold joy, pleasure or any type of fulfilling emotion.

This is where the acceptance of loss is immeasurable.  Before we can move forward in any challenge in life, we have to accept that the loss was somehow inevitable.  We have to understand that there is nothing that we could have done to change it, if we are to continue to learn and grow on this journey.  We have to know that we will learn to love more deeply and live more joyfully with a renewed sense of passion and with greater purpose.
We must "believe" that the Holy Spirit is guiding us, lifting us and shedding light through the darkness and into a new realm of possibilities.

If we can transcend through "Grief" to "Belief", we just may find ourselves writing a blog that helps others make it through the rain to get to the rainbow.

We just may be a "little girl from a row house" who is now known affectionately as.....
Dr Lorri

Please know that my grief extended well beyond the loss of Darlene to the loss of many important family members through death and divorce.  You can imagine the toll that these losses took upon our entire family.  I do not tell you this for sympathy, but rather to instill a sense of hope.  My family has developed into a very generous group, giving time, money and hope to charities and truly, many in need.  We have realized that even though we experienced tremendous pain, we still have each other and an immense amount of unconditional love.

May you find a way to "Believe" and "make it through the rain"!