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    True Pain, True Grief, and a True God
    True Pain, True Grief, and a True God
    True Pain, True Grief, and a True God
    Ebook101 pages1 hour

    True Pain, True Grief, and a True God

    By Dylan Dodson

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    About this ebook

    A year after experiencing what he never thought possiblehis fathers suicideauthor Dylan Dodson had learned many lessons about pain, suffering, and grief. After hearing story after story of others who had been through difficult situations and painful circumstances, he began to realize a few things. He saw how much pain people deal with in their everyday lives. He discovered that many people thought that they were the only ones who experienced those painful emotions in the manner that they did, and that they felt bad because of how they were feeling.

    But struggling through a hard time does not mean you do not love God and that He does not love you. The emotions that you feel are normal; you were created with the ability to grieve, and it is okay to do so. Pain is real, and so are the feelings that come with it. You are not alone in your suffering; there is nothing wrong with you, and God does not love you any less or any more because of what you have been through. This is not your typical what now book. Rather, it is a real story that you can relate to and understand in your own way. Journey with Dodson as he shares his experiences, and discover what the Bible has to say on true pain, true grief, and a true God.

    Blog: LookingforPurpose.com

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWestBow Press
    Release dateMay 18, 2011
    ISBN9781449717001
    True Pain, True Grief, and a True God
    Author

    Dylan Dodson

    Dylan Dodson lives in Wilmington, North Carolina, with his wife, Christina. He is currently pursuing his Master of Religion through Liberty University, and is the director of TheAdvancing.com. Dylan aspires to one day plant a church.

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      Book preview

      True Pain, True Grief, and a True God - Dylan Dodson

      TRUE PAIN, TRUE GRIEF, and a

      TRUE GOD

      Dylan Dodson

      missing image file

      Copyright © 2011 Dylan Dodson

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      WestBow Press books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

      WestBow Press

      A Division of Thomas Nelson

      1663 Liberty Drive

      Bloomington, IN 47403

      www.westbowpress.com

      1-(866) 928-1240

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

      ISBN: 978-1-4497-1700-1 (e)

      ISBN: 978-1-4497-1699-8 (sc)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2011928957

      Printed in the United States of America

      WestBow Press rev. date: 5/16/2011

      Contents

      Preface

      CHAPTER 1

      How it Started

      CHAPTER 2

      Life Isn’t Over

      CHAPTER 3

      Just Grieve

      CHAPTER 4

      Why Me?

      CHAPTER 5

      How Can I Help?

      CHAPTER 6

      Loneliness and Being You

      CHAPTER 7

      Our God or Our Circumstance?

      CHAPTER 8

      What Now?

      CHAPTER 9

      What’s the Point?

      To my father

      Although I wish you were still here today, I know that many people will be encouraged by this story. One decision does not define a lifetime. To the greatest man of God I have ever known, you are my hero.

      To my mother

      I will never understand how you do it. Your courage, strength, and faith are an inspiration to us all. Thank you for never giving up. I love you.

      Preface

      Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

      James 1:2–4

      I’m not sure how to begin or where to start. I realize many people have gone through many more difficulties in life than I ever will. My prayer is simply that this may encourage those of you in the midst of suffering, or to help educate those who wish to better comfort friends and family who are in need. I’m a simple man who knows very little, but I serve a God who knows it all. This book is a collection of my thoughts and experiences, which are by no means universal to everyone who is experiencing pain. Ultimately, this resource does not have the answers and cannot tell you how to fix your situation. What I can do though, is introduce you to someone who can. Jesus Christ is the only, and the ultimate, healer. The best book on pain and suffering and how to overcome is the Bible.

      My purpose behind this composition is to encourage you. Whether you are the one who is struggling, or you are the one who wants to help another. We all experience pain to varying degrees, and you are not alone in how you feel. I pray you are encouraged by the words you are about to read, and that you know you are not alone. Difficulties in life will occur all of the time, and with the strength of God, we can overcome.

      Thank you for taking your time, and for sharing with me in your pain. All things are possible through Christ, and your sufferings are not too big for Him.

      The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him (Nahum 1:7).

      CHAPTER 1

      How it Started

      This is the speech I gave at my father’s memorial service:

      For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him (John 3:16–17).

      How easy is it for us to question if God is really there, and does He really love us? If God loved my dad, then why did He allow this to happen? God knew that my family needed my dad, and God knew how hard this was going to be for us.

      We have all done it, questioned if God really loves us. If you didn’t get that promotion at work, having to end a relationship, even losing your job. I ask you if you really look at things, how much do these things really matter? Is your problem really so significant that you have to question the God who created you, the God that knows your heart, the God that gave you the passions that you have, the God that gave His son to die for you?

      You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:6–8).

      When you really look at it, how big is your problem? Is it really worth questioning who God is because you didn’t get what you wanted? Because I’ll tell you this: I lost my dad on Saturday, and God still loves me.

      I’ll never forget when I was about eight or nine years old. My dad and I were in our backyard standing next to the porch and he told me that if we could actually know how awesome heaven would be, we would kill ourselves to go there. I bet it’s awesome, Dad, and I can’t wait for you to show me around when I get there.

      It was a hot Saturday morning in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The day was June 27, 2009, and I was walking around a mall with the bass player of the band I was in at the time. We had a gig to play that night, and we were waiting for the rest of our band to arrive. My cell phone rang, but I didn’t answer it. It was one of my older brother’s best friends, except they weren’t really friends anymore so I wasn’t sure why he was calling me. I checked a minute later to find he had left me a voicemail. Instinctively I then went to listen to it, and that is the beginning of my story.

      I was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. I am the middle son of three boys. When I was about five, we moved to Cary, North Carolina, where my parents had my younger brother.

      Both of my parents loved the Lord. I grew up in a great area, had a lot of friends, and went to a great church. My parents allowed me to do anything I desired, from playing on sports teams to doing theater and music. They always believed in me and blessed me more than I will ever know. My father was an elder at our church, and my mom was on staff. Needless to say, I grew up in and around the church.

      Through high school, I never really went through a rebellious stage. I was never interested in drugs or premarital sex or alcohol, and so I never did those things. I always took my faith in Christ pretty

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