How Lamenting Changed My Life

Several years ago, when I was in the middle of a slump in my faith, I wrote a song describing the pain I was going through because of the numbness in my spirit. I never felt that the song was quite finished, but I didn't know why. I was always made sad by it, but I couldn't think of anything to add, so I just left it.

Then I went to a conference called Journey this year. At that conference, we talked about lamenting. A lament is a deep expression or complaint of sorrow, pain, grief, and confession. We see people doing this all through the Bible, and I used to simply see those passages as people being sad and telling God about it. But lamenting is actually so much more, and it has brought so much to my life!

This is the handout that I received at Journey, and it honestly changed the way I
look at my prayers of grief, sadness, pain, heartache, and confession.

There is a pattern to lamenting. There is a hope and a promise, an assurance of being heard and an establishment of trust that is inherent in the process. The problem is that we often stop halfway through this process, and simply complain to God. But just like my song, those laments are incomplete. They are missing part of what makes them so beautiful - no story is complete without an ending! The Lord wants to hear your deepest sorrows, and it's okay to express feelings of frustration and grief that are directed at Him. David did!

But we can't stop there. I spent an hour or so finishing my song tonight. I am no longer in the place I was when I first wrote it, but I still have many of the same struggles... and I expressed them, but the song no longer ends on a note of despair. Rather, it now ends in a plea for the Lord to take my withered, broken heart and make it once again alive.

Brokenness and pain are inevitable in this world. We are promised difficulty. Yet we are also promised hope, joy, and a peace that is far beyond our comprehension. Grieving and lamenting is part of life... and following through on the process of lamenting can change your life. Grieving to the Lord is no longer a sad thing for me, but a blessing; I am left feeling hopeful, rather than downcast and hopeless. Jesus gives us beauty in exchange for ashes... and that means we can come to Him with our ashes and leave clinging to His promises of beauty.

Blessings,

Elizabeth