Gregory E. Lang

For a Time

Words of Encouragement for a Season of Grief

Gregory E. Lang

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.

John 3:16

 

There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity

under Heaven.

The sun rises and sets,

and the moon increases

and decreases;

the day gives way to night,

and in its turn,

night yields back to the day.

Nothing in this world is without end;

all things endure only for a time.

 

There are powers far beyond us,

 plans far beyond what we could

have ever thought of,

visions far more vast than what

we can ever see with our own eyes.

C. JoyBell C.

 

Everything, in time,

gives way to something else.

There is a time to embrace

and a time to refrain,

a time to keep

and a time to give away;

there is a season of abundance,

and a season of hunger and need.

For every person, in every place,

in every circumstance,

anything we have,

we have but for a time.

Everything we enjoy,

we enjoy but for a time.

And now and then

we may have no joy at all.

 

God cannot give us a happiness

and peace apart from Himself,

because it is not there.

There is no such thing.

C. S. Lewis

 

Our mouths may thirst,

our hearts may yearn or be broken,

and our very lives may seem unsure.

We cannot have everything

according to our desires,

nor enjoy them as long as we might wish;

the evidence of this is all around us.

 

Earth has no sorrow that

Heaven cannot heal.

Thomas Moore

 

There is a constant ebbing

and flowing,

waxing and waning,

from one season to another.

Everything in this world changes,

it has from the beginning,

and will until the end.

There is a time when all strength is gone,

and a time when one is made even stronger still.

 

The most beautiful people I’ve known

are those who have known trials,

have known struggles, have known loss,

and have found their way out of the depths.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

 

There is a time for action

and a time for rest,

a time for doubt

and a time for trust.

And though we desire control of our world,

that we might determine

the length of each season

or stop the flow of one to another,

we can never alter the plan of God.

 

Anything under God’s control

is never out of control.

Charles R. Swindoll

 

God has a purpose in all that He does,

even if we cannot fathom what His purpose is.

 

Patience with others is love,

patience with self is hope,

patience with God is faith.

Adel Bestavros

 

We cannot know what was before us,

nor what shall be after us.

It is not ours to know the

rhythm of this world,

nor to believe it would

yield for us.

 

Faith is deliberate confidence

in the character of God

whose ways you may not

understand at the time.

Oswald Chambers

 

We must make the most

of our present circumstances

and trust that what we have

is what we need,

and while it lasts,

for the duration of its season,

find peace with what has been given us.

 

The will of God is never exactly

what you expect it to be.

It may seem to be much worse,

but in the end it’s going to be

a lot better and a lot bigger.

Elisabeth Elliot

 

We should strive to content ourselves with,

and make good use of,

what God has determined.

We must take all things as they come,

understanding it or not,

for the time it is upon us.

It is not ours to change what God has done.

In accordance with His design,

all things will have their turn

and come to pass.

 

There is no pit so deep

but that His love is deeper still.

Corrie Ten Boom

 

The valleys join the highest mountains,

and gentle streams join raging rivers;

the clearest sky becomes clouded,

and the most clouded sky becomes clear.

There is a time for everything,

everything under the sun,

including a time for heartache.

 

What we have once enjoyed

and deeply loved we can never lose,

for all that we love deeply

becomes a part of us.

Helen Keller

 

Even pain is designed by God.

There is a time to mourn

and a time to dance,

a time to weep

and a time to laugh,

a time to be silent

and a time to speak,

and a time to love

and share ourselves freely.

Yet even love cannot last

on this side of the everlasting.

 

Love is stronger than death even though

it can’t stop death from happening.

Unknown Author

 

We are created to live,

yet set before us is a time to die.

We will lose, in time,

many of whom we love,

just as others

will surely one day lose us.

 

If God were small enough

to be understood,

He would not be big enough

to be worshiped.

Evelyn Underhill

 

And though death may

never be welcomed,

each life has a season

that must reach its end.

We are of this world only for a time.

 

Seeing death as the end of a life is like

seeing the horizon as the end of the ocean.

David Searles

 

And our grief is natural,

so it too must have its season.

It may seem to linger without end,

or come and go as the wind.

It may carve at our heart

as waves against the shore,

or dull our senses

so that nothing brings pleasure.

And in such times,

God may seem far,

near,

or somewhere

in between.

But He is indeed with you,

now and always.

 

As cold as everything looks in winter,

the sun has not forsaken us.

He has only drawn away for a little,

for good reasons,

one of which is that we may learn

that we cannot do without Him.

George MacDonald

 

Our heartache and suffering

endure for a time,

and yet our memories

last even longer still,

a sweet blessing God has given us.

 

Death leaves a heartache

no one can heal,

love leaves a memory

no one can steal.

Irish proverb

 

We live in a world of change.

Everything changes according to plan,

though we may not yet understand why.

The finite cannot grasp the infinite,

but what reason cannot comprehend,

faith believes.

 

Philosophers can debate

the meaning of life,

but you need a Lord

who can declare

the meaning of life.

Max Lucado

 

And in faith alone

we must wait with patience

for a full understanding

of God’s mysterious but glorious ways.

We will always have disappointment in this world;

we must not expect this life

to be all God has meant for us.

 

Because God has made us

for Himself,

our hearts are restless

until they rest in Him.

St. Augustine

 

This world was never intended for our rest.

Eventually we will become weary of this season,

And long for of the only everlasting time,

the season of never-ending.

 

By Heaven we understand

a state of happiness

infinite in degree,

and endless in duration.

Benjamin Franklin

 

Everything is beautiful

in its own time.

Our life on earth

is lived for the meantime,

Our life in Heaven

will be lived for all time.

Death, though seemingly an enemy,

is but a portal through which we must pass

to enter an eternity of favor.

 

Difficult times have helped me

to understand better than before,

how infinitely rich and beautiful

life is in every way.

Baroness Karen Blixen

 

There is rest and sweet refreshment

in eternity, where grace waits

to turn our afflictions into mercies.

There is a wonderful harmony

in the seasons yet to come,

beautiful and comforting

to those who wait.

Every man’s life is his opportunity

for doing what prepares him for eternity.

 

The only significance of life

consists in helping

to establish the kingdom of God.

Leo Tolstoy

 

We must be pleased with our place in this world

and readily yield to the will of God.

Remain humble in your dependence on God,

neither lifted up with pride,

nor cast down with fears,

and believe everything

will soon appear to have been accomplished

in the most proper time,

in the most wonderful way,

for all the best reasons.

 

Death is nothing else but going home to God,

the bond of love will be unbroken for all eternity.

Mother Teresa

 

There is a time for everything,

and a season for every circumstance

under Heaven.

As we are born,

so we must die

at the appointed time.

But just as there is a time

to be born,

and a time to die,

there is also a time to rise again.

Death has always been at work in us,

but so too has life;

God will lift up what has fallen down.

 

Blessings alone do not open our eyes.

Indeed, blessings by themselves

tend to close our eyes.

We do not come to know Him

in the blessing,

but in the breaking.

Chip Brogden

 

So live in light of eternity,

comply with God’s call

to laugh or weep,

or mourn or dance,

for the duration He has determined,

always holding fast

to the hope set before us.

We have this life but for a time,

and death is no more than

a farewell to this season,

so look forward to another time,

a season for all time,

the promised victory over death

to all who believe.

 

And when my days run out,

I will have lived just a blink of time

and the rest will be eternal joy.

Abby Danielle Burlbaugh

 

Let us live in that hope for the future,

that in eternity

will be those we have loved,

there waiting for us,

to share in the glory

and abundance

of eternal blessings

that will, at last,

endure forever.

 

Grieve not,

nor speak of me with tears,

but laugh and talk of me

as if I were beside you there.

Isla Paschal Richardson

 

Weeping may remain for a night,

But rejoicing comes in the morning.

Psalm 30:5