The last few weeks of May were a tough few weeks for my family. In the matter of five days we lost two incredibly amazing people, one on each side of my family. My grandfather on my dad's side passed away on a Monday and then just five days later my grandmother on my mom's side passed away on that Friday. Their funerals were just two days apart from each other. 

Mourning and grieving are very real and sometimes I think people don't believe it's okay to just not know how they feel during these times. Before I continue any further I just want to recognize that people grieve and mourn differently and that’s okay. We are all made differently by God and we all have different ways we cope with things, but this post is just to bring some light to how can we mourn and radiate God's joy. 

Life is filled with different seasons. Seasons with incredibly high highs and seasons that take you down to rock bottom. No matter what seasons of life you are in, you can radiate joy. Here’s what I learned about how to radiate joy in a season of mourning. Radiating joy in mourning isn’t about being happy every single day, it’s not about always having a smile on your face, and it’s defintely not about saying “I’m fine” to every person who asks you how you are doing.

However, radiating joy in mourning is being honest with others, it is dvinging deep into prayer and into God’s Word, and it is about praising Jesus through the storm. I know that’s not easy. I know when we mourn or when we go through times of trouble that sometimes we just want to walk away from God and sometimes even question Him why He would do this to us. He didn’t do this to us. He didn’t take that person away from us. He didn’t do these things, because God fills our life with GOOD things (Psalm 103:5).

Knowing this comes from the Word of God, we know it’s true and if we know that God fills our life with good things we also know that He doesn’t take people we love and care about away from us. Knowing this doesn’t mean it’s not okay to cry, it doesn’t mean it’s not okay to miss them, and it also doesn’t mean specific days won’t be incredibly hard to go through especially around the holidays. But, knowing this does mean that we can rejoice in the fact that God will continue to fill our life with good things, we can be thankful for the comfort He gives, we can take joy and be glad in Him because of all the people He has surrounded us with to help carry us through times of mourning.

 If you are in a time of mourning, you can radiate His joy by diving into His Word, singing praises to our Father, and praying continually.

I hope you find comfort in this. I hope that you find strength in our Heavenly Father. If you need prayers to help you through times of mourning, please feel free to email me at radiatehisjoy@gmail.com - I would be honored to pray for you.

In Him

Rachel Marie