Out of Sorts: Making Peace with an Evolving Faith

by Sarah Bessey

don’t give it power, don’t acknowledge it, don’t confess it, don’t be sad, don’t be mad, don’t be despairing, don’t pay attention to the monster crouching in the corner. We believed that our feelings and circumstances had to obey our carefully curated version of the Word of God: we are more than overcomers; the joy of the Lord is our strength; death has no sting. So don’t grieve when death comes calling: They are now with Jesus. Don’t be sick: Come down with a healing. Don’t be sad: The joy of the Lord is your strength. And I can’t tell you the grief I carry still over the people who were caught in the crossfire consequences of that teaching, believing that their darkness or grief or sadness or despair or sickness was their own fault because they simply lacked faith.

The danger of not grieving