Redefining

From Coping with Chronic Pain (forgotten author's name)

This may sound strange, but you will need to relearn your world and reinvent yourself. You will need a new definition of yourself, including others. You will also discover changes in your relationship with God and the teachings of the Scriptures.
A woman with Lupus said: "Grieving my losses served as a bridge, allowing me to celebrate my todays to the fullest instead of being imprisoned in my yesterdays and tomorrows. Grief was the key that unlocked the door to my adjustment."
 
While from a pain-coping book, this passage is profound, and can apply to all of us. 
Life is hard. There is not getting around that. Pets die. Family members die. Simply bad days happen. All because we, long ago, made the choice to sin. 
After any hard event, whether it be you spilled pop all over your lap before an interview, or that saddening fact that your aunt passed away...can create great change in you. Well...maybe not the pop spill. 
Grief is a tool that makes us look at life differently. Way back in January, I had written a blog that talked about how I had finally forgiven so many people in which hurts still festered below the surface. I did not even realize until I was prostrate, wraith-like on the couch in agony, that those hurts were even THERE! 
I can say, now, that while I still am sick with RA and fibro, and cannot plan anything in advance yet...my soul is clearer. As if a wind has blown away sick, thick, tire-burning smoke from the hollow of my heart. I do feel lighter, after not carrying those pains with me. 
It takes time to let pains of hurts go. But we cannot cling to them like a beloved teddy bear, for their presence will poison us over time. It is good and wonderful to think of your aunt...but not to dwell on the fact and forget to live. 
Sometimes people are mad at God. I have not been...but I would recommend that if you are...spend time in the Word. The longer you stay away from God, the more poisoned you will be by the evil ones, and the more they will be able to drag you with them. 
God loves us so much. It has been said, I have read, that Jesus withstood every illness, hurt and whatever on the cross. For millions and millions of people. Whether or not it is true...I cannot tell you how much He loves us. It is so far beyond our mental abilities that there is no understanding it. His love can cover old hurts and new hurts so deeply, it is almost like they never happened.