Loss has hit me hard the past several years. A piece of my heart broke off when my parents passed away and when my full nest became empty. A job change or retirement adds to the feeling of emptiness that comes with loss. Sometimes you never fully recover the broken parts of who you were, but you almost always grow into a new version of yourself. The lost and found pieces of our life rotate in and out but grow stronger when we let ourselves grow.

As I read the second Beatitude this week, “you’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you”, I realized I am living this out in my own life. Life is not always as we imagined it. If I shared with you my dreams when I retired, the hard parts of loss would not have been in the mix at all. BUT GOD…

Who I am two years later is a different version of myself. I am lost and found again in Christ. This happens over and over as I let go and grow deeper in Him.

[Tweet “I am lost and found again in Christ as I let go and grow deeper in Him.”]

Experiencing deep loss leaves a person drained. You crave connection but many times choose isolation because it is easier. You stumble and forget that broken pieces need time to heal and become whole.

If the beatitude speaks truth, which I believe it does, I am very blessed. Experiencing loss brought me closer to God. When my brokenness overwhelmed me, I craved the comfort of God. Friends and family fill the empty space, but I find I desire loving without any strings attached. God chooses us over and over and embraces us with a love that begins to heal the broken pieces.

The second beatitude doesn’t leave us with just a message of loss. It also shares how we receive the gift of comfort in the embrace of God. Loss hits hard, but on the other side we open ourselves to being cherished and loved by the One who does it best.

I never want to wish loss on anyone. This beatitude seems to imply that it is only in loss that you receive the deep embrace of God. I find these words also speak of letting go of the things that keep us from a relationship with God. Maybe loss is not just the emptiness resulting from losing a loved one. Instead it’s when we recognize the barriers that keep us from God.

Today may you feel the arms of God around you in a deep embrace of love. May you know you are loved in your brokenness as well as in the pieces that have been healed.

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

Blessings on your week!

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