“A hurting person is in a storm. They are cold, wet, shivering, and scared. Preaching, platitudes, and advice will not get them out of the storm. Don’t tell a person in a storm that it’s a sunny day. There will likely come a day when the clouds part, but it is not today. It’s not your job to pull them out of the storm. It’s your job to get wet with them.”
—Adam McHugh, When Someone is in A Storm
Carolyn Custis James 
Love this last paragraph. Very well said. Are we so quick to push folks out of grief and loss because it makes us uncomfortable? Do we believe that there is no place for grief in our faith? Puzzling.
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Great questions Dorothy. Are grief or struggle or doubt failures of faith, or are they actually important and even necessary parts of the journey where God takes us deeper?
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We have much to learn in the arena of grief when it's not due to physical death. That being said, we have much to learn in sharing and making space for loss in our lives.
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The writer of Hebrews tells us that Christ learned obedience through the things he suffered – a verse that has often given me pause. If He needed suffering to learn how much more do we? But yes, many of us (me included!) offer platitudes like long armed kleenix as if grief and loss were contagious.
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Sorrow and suffering were major components of the life of Jesus here on earth and he promised they would be part of his follower's lives. I have learned that trying to find a fix for them is not what is needed, but weeping with those who weep is best.
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