Shaun shares some practical insights after suffering a painful loss.

Friday 18 December 2020 6:15am is etched in my mind. My family sat at my wife Tania’s side as she gently took her last breath and her faith turned to sight.

I wept from a place in my gut I have not found since. The weight of suffocating grief overcame me.

Beware – grief and trauma will exhaust your energy! My body and mind screamed at me with fatigue. Don’t ignore the physiological and spiritual alarm bells, but also consider the glory: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).

Make it your goal to always make the right choices that will honour and glorify God. Especially in the depth of your trauma, bring glory to God. You are not off the hook because your life just got hard. Tania and I spoke at length about my future without her. Her bravery and trust in the Lord gave me a resolve to simply obey the Lord and cling to the Scriptures regardless of the situation.

Don’t wait for the trial to hit you before you trust your Father and read His Word. Get stuck into God’s word now. If you don’t discipline yourself in godliness, your trials will swallow and suffocate you permanently. I echo the words of the apostle Paul: “But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ” (Philippians 1:12). 

If you don’t discipline yourself in godliness, your trials will swallow and suffocate you permanently.

At the end of July 2021, I left Tralee to serve Tipperary Christian Fellowship. The Lord has blessed us, and the church is growing numerically and spiritually. We baptized two new believers, Stephen and Cynthia.

 

On the last Wednesday of each month, I have a radio broadcast on Tipp Midwest Radio. At the end of January 2022, a missionary family from South Africa joined TeamÉire in Tipperary. The Lord has increased the number of workers in the field.

We don’t need to “feel good” about ourselves to serve the Lord and love others. Like you, I found myself needing to work my way through my emotions to ensure that my choices were God honouring and not primarily self-serving or selfish. I have had to cling to the good purposes of God: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

The Bible provides principles that are a strong tower for our emotions and a safeguard for our spiritual well-being.

Here are a few principles that I have learned from the Bible: 

• love trumps and drives out fear 

• thankful prayer with contentment brings a peace that surpasses even my own understanding 

• the bumps are what I climb on 

• God is gracious and supplies all my needs

• rehearsing the gospel is the secret to overcoming fear in troubled times.

(See Romans 8:37-39, Philippians 4:6-7, Psalm 91, 1 Thessalonians 5:18, 1 John 4:8, Psalm 42:5 and 11, James 1, 1 Corinthians 10:13, Philippians 4:19-20).

 

Shaun Abrahams serves in church planting in Ireland