This lengthy document discusses dealing with loss and finding purpose and meaning in life through faith in God. Some main points: 1) Losing a loved one or going through difficult changes can shake one's sense of identity and purpose, but through faith in Jesus Christ as Savior one can find they have been made new and their value and worth come from their relationship with God, not from other people or accomplishments. 2) It's important to grieve losses but also to remember the good times and lessons of the past without deriving one's whole identity from relationships. One's identity and purpose ultimately come from knowing God. 3) Even in the face of discouragement, one should never give up hope because

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the toughest ofthe very difficult
true whether we've lost a loved one, or we
decided to move on-----or any other
"t1"~ncrp to say, this also includes what
har:lpells when we
Savior and Lord! Paul
of our sins and receive Jesus Christ as
in 2 Corinthians 5:
Pastor Chuck! Paul said that we're
creatures' when we come to Christ-that 'old
, and all kinds 'new ' come into our
Sometimes that "old and new" stuffis hard for a
handle. For think ofall the radical chalng~~s
occurred in Paul's life when he came to Christ. He had to
he went to JeruSallena!
" and ended up
means that we are at a
it offas
will
we must choose to allow Him
pnnCllpi€!S that we can into 1"'o1"r.'l"'hl"'p·
We need to remember aU the ways that we were
blessed the etc. that we
have
other had excelled at what he m01ugltn
became a believer-and in many
was a wonderful hprlt~{u"
were
and remember and over the
ofour life.
For my father has been gone for over "",n"..• ""...
years, and miss his presence in my life. And
passes without my rernelnberutlg--'iV]
while we were
love for the
lUulgnLess to work hard
what the Word is
B. We also need to see that our value as persons
didn't then-and doesn't on those
whatever
counted as
count all
that we thanked
Whether we realize it or not, with these Paul was
to any reliance he may have had-----or
ten1Ptt~Cl to have-on all his
c011ce:rmlng my father: my value as a
person did not on the 1had with him
before he died-nor do I derive my worth from my
pmntlC)ll as ofthe First or even from
the husband ofbeautiful Sandra Dee. am who I am
because I know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior!
other is downstream from that one.
c. We also need to learn to
In Jeremiah 29:
that1
, ..,nl+r"~n and to
'" I have often said that I want the on my
tombstone to read: "NEVER GIVE UP!" The reason for
this is to counteract an the naysayers go around
know God is with
"You
you'll never amount to Those words-
and others like them-are lies from Satan himself. As
as you God has a purpose for need to
look for
D. AU of the above pnnCllpl4~S
the n,pll"6:!n,pl"i"i'l',p
the wa.v--wnm do you want YOUR be?
December 2010

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