72. Christmas And Grief: How To Make It Through

by Julie Lefebure | Dec 20, 2022 | Podcast

I know what it’s like to grieve at Christmastime. You wonder how you’re going to make it through, right?

Christmas and Grief: How to Make It Through | woman by Christmas tree looking sad not eating her meal

It was just five days before Christmas.

My family and I were sitting in the first-row wooden church pew of the church I grew up in. The sanctuary before me was elaborately decorated with a brightly lit Christmas tree, a beautiful manger scene, and some of the most stunning red Poinsettias I think I’ve ever seen! It was breathtaking.

With such beauty before me, this should have been one of the most special moments of Christmas ever. You’d think so, but this was not a special day. Because I was saying goodbye to my mother at her funeral.

I mean, who buries her mother just five days before Christmas?

When others are decking their halls and trimming their trees and enjoying all the season has to offer, how in the world do we make room for grief and loss? For a casket and death and sorrow? Just five days before Christmas? How does any of that even begin to make sense? How in the world can we make it through such heartache in the season to be jolly?

Mom passed away on December 16, 2006, sixteen years ago. Mom had been ill for a few weeks, but we never dreamed she wouldn’t be here for Christmas. At least I didn’t. But she fought and fought and had been through more than any of us really knew. She told me the night before she died that she was ready to “fall asleep and let what was supposed to happen, happen.” And she did.

How will we make it through Christmas without our loved one?

One less plate at the dinner table. One less present under the tree. And one less smile, laugh, joyful presence. I had never felt such heartache before as I questioned this myself.

Click on the player above to listen to the full 15-minute episode.

I share some ways that helped me make it through the most difficult season in my life thus far and a couple Bible verses that give us hope. I pray this encourages you.

It’s not about just making it through the season, this is about living hopeful in every season.

This season might not be the most wonderful time of the year for you in the world’s eyes, but maybe this Christmas will be a turning point for you, like Christmas of 2006 was for me. When we allow Jesus to fill us up with hope and promise, well, that can change everything. It may just make it the most special season of all. We’ll not only make it through the grief and the holiday, we will experience the true meaning of the season which will carry us through the whole year.

God bless you.

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