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August 11, 2025 18 mins
Grief is something that touches every single one of us at some point in life. It can come suddenly or creep in quietly, but when it arrives, it has the power to shake our hearts, cloud our thoughts, and change the way we see the world. In this episode, we take a deep and compassionate look at grief—what it is, how it affects our emotions, our minds, and even our physical health, and why it’s so important to give ourselves permission to grieve. We’ll talk about the many faces of grief—whether it’s losing a loved one, a relationship, a dream, or even a way of life—and how it can manifest in ways we don’t always expect. We’ll also share practical tools and perspectives that can help you navigate through the heaviness, from leaning on community and faith, to finding healthy outlets for your emotions, to rediscovering joy and purpose over time. Most importantly, you’ll hear encouragement to remind you that grief is a journey, not a life sentence—and that healing, while it may look different for each of us, is possible. Whether you’re in the midst of loss, just beginning to process it, or walking alongside someone who is hurting, this conversation is meant to bring comfort, understanding, and hope. Visit our website:https://www.justthebiblewilldo.com/

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey friends, I'm Jonathan Smith and this is Jump In
with Jonathan, the podcast that makes you think, smile and
take action. Are you ready to jump in this show
with me? Let's go. Welcome to Jump In with Jonathan.
I'm your host, Jonathan Smith, and today we're going to

(00:20):
walk through a subject that touches every single one of
us at some point in our lives. It is the
subject called grief. Grief comes in many forms, the loss
of a loved one, the end of a relationship, a
major life change, or even a loss of a dream
we thought would come true. It's personal at times, it's deep,

(00:45):
and often it's misunderstood, but also something God can meet
us in our deepest, darkest valley. We talk about grief
on a multitude of levels. People warn us about grief.
People tell us when to expect grief. People try to

(01:07):
tell us how to deal with grief. But we need
to number one, understand what grief really is. I looked
up the definition of grief. Grief is a natural emotional
response to loss. It is not a sign of weakness,
but a reflection of love, a reflection of an attachment

(01:30):
and meaning. It is more than sadness. Grief. It can
include anger, guilt, confusion, numbness, and even at times relief
in certain situations. So when you go through grief, you
will experience some of these things that I've mentioned, and

(01:51):
that is normal as you go through grief. There are
different types of grief. There's what I would call acute grief.
It's intense. You show your role emotions. Often right after
a loss. You will shed lots of tears. You will

(02:12):
explain the heartache to different people of what you were facing.
You will be really emotional, and when certain people talk
to you, or when a certain name or a certain dream,
or a certain vision or a certain relationship is mentioned,
your heart will crumble and you will shatter in front

(02:33):
of them. And a lot of times when you shatter
in front of them, you will apologize and say, I'm
so sorry. I didn't mean to break down, I didn't
mean to cry, I didn't mean to go off and
say those things. But it's naturally okay to do that
because at that time you were showing acute grief. Secondly,

(02:54):
another type of grief that you may show is what
I would call complicated grief. It's when the pain remains
overwhelming for weeks, months, and even at times years it
seems like there are certain times during the phases of grief.

(03:14):
Let's talk about a loss of a loved one, and
when you go through that loss of a loved one,
they may have been passed away for several weeks, but
it seems like they just passed away today. They may
be passed away for several months, but it seems like
they just passed away today. They may have been gone
for twenty or thirty years, but that grief is so

(03:36):
real to you. It's still like it just happened yesterday
or today. Well, the thing about this chronic grief is
that is a normal stage of grief. Then you could
also experience grief of anticipation, the sorrow you feel when

(03:57):
you know a loss is coming. Some of us to
prepare ourselves for the death of a loved one. We
try to prepare ourselves for divorce. We try to prepare
ourselves for broken friendships. We try to prepare ourselves for
major losses in our lives. And no matter how much
we try to prepare, you and I will never be
able to be fully prepared for that loss. You can

(04:20):
think your you can think that you are prepared. You
can tell people that you are prepared. You can look
at say I'll be relieved when when this loss takes place.
I will be relieved when this divorce is over. I
will be relieved when all of this is going on.
And what you're doing is you're building an anticipation to
your grief, but unfortunately you will not be one hundred

(04:45):
percent prepared. The stages of grief is what I would
assume is a myth, and you may disagree with me
on this. There's five stages denial, anger, bargaining, depression, sceptce
these this checklist of grief was never meant to be rigid.

(05:10):
In real life, grief moves in waves, not straight lines.
You will never know which wave or emotion of grief
will hit you next. You cannot be prepared for which
wave or emotion of grief will hit you. Then I

(05:32):
look at the body's role in grief. Losts does not
just affect your heart and mind, but it can disrupt
your sleep, it can disrupt your appetite, it can disrupt
your focus, and most importantly, it will disrupt your energy. See,

(05:54):
when you go through grief, one of the first things
is during the day, everything seems okay, but at night,
when you go to lay your head down on your pillow,
those thoughts of grief begin to flow through your mind,
and then you lose sleep. And then the next thing,
because your body is so tired, it isn't craven food anymore.

(06:15):
And then because you're so tired and you've not ate,
you will lose focus. And then once you lose focus,
you'll begin to lose energy, and you'll begin to go
down a deep, dark path of depression. So that is
what I call the reality of grief. Secondly, why does
grief hit so hard? Grief rewrites our daily reality. Grief

(06:41):
can change our routines, our relationships, and how we see
the world. Grief will do one or two things for you.
It'll make you a better person, or it'll make you
a bitter person. The brain under grief, when I look
at it at neuroscience shows that loss triggers the areas
of the brain activated by physical pain. Mental pain or

(07:07):
mental grief and anguish can just be as hard as
a physical what's the right word I'm looking for here?
As a physical pain. Even though it just affects you mentally,
grief challenges your identity. You may ask who am I?

(07:27):
What type of person am I without a certain person
in my life, a certain job in my life, without
a certain relation, without a certain partner in my life?
What kind of person am I going to be? At
some point in your life, you need to realize that
you're going to have to stand on your own two feet,
that people's not always going to be around. Jobs aren't

(07:47):
always going to be around, roles aren't always going to
be around. So you need to find out now what
type of person you are so that when it comes
time to deal with this part of grief in your life,
you'll be better to understand it. Also, grief hits hard
because it's about connection. We as human beings are wired

(08:09):
for attachment, and grief is the cost of those deep connections.
Then I look at the unpredictable, unpredictability factor of grief.
Certain dates will come up and that grief will hit
you again. For example, July the thirty first was my

(08:34):
grandmother's birthday. And my grandmother's been passed away now for
several years, but every year on July the thirty first,
I give a little bit sad because I miss her.
I miss picking up the phone and wishing her happy birthday.
I miss going to her house to secee her smiling

(08:56):
face for her birthday or Christmas or Thanksgiving. Certain songs
will replay grief in our lives. Certain smells, anniversaries, certain
locations can trigger these waves of emotion, and it can
cause the grief process to arise in our lives. And

(09:20):
how you and I respond to that is how you
and I are going to either become depressed or victorious
in handling our grief. So today you may ask me,
how are some healthy ways to move through grief? So

(09:41):
if I was to give you a few ways to
move through grief, I would tell you Number one, give
yourself permission to feel. Avoid feelings only delays the process.
It's okay to cry. It's okay to be angry. It's
okay to have moments of life in between those moments

(10:03):
of crying, those moments of anger, those moments of denial.
It's okay to experience all of those raw emotions. Don't
be ashamed of it, don't apologize for it, don't say
oh I'm sorry, don't do any of that, but say,
you know what I'm grieving, and this is how I
must handle it. Secondly, talk about it. Don't be afraid

(10:28):
to find a group of friends that you trust to
share your stories with, or family that you want to
sit down and talk to about what you're dealing with.
If you don't have any friends or have any family
that you can trust, then I would advise getting a
therapist because when you put grief into words, it helps
process it. Also, get a journal, write down your thoughts

(10:54):
and memories while you're going through this grief process so
that you can make sense of them later on down
the road. Also, I want you to honor what you
have lost. Create a small ritual, a photo album, or
memorial to keep those that you have lost alive in

(11:15):
your memory. Now, it's hard to do that with a job,
and you definitely don't want to do that if you're
going through a divorce, because God knows we don't want
to see our exes anymore. But when we think about
these things, we need to keep a memory of those
that have loved us and that have cared for us,
and those that we truly loved and cared for. Most importantly,

(11:39):
take care of your body through the griefing process. Make
sure that you are getting good sleep. You say I'm
not getting good sleep, I'm struggling with that, Go talk
to your doctor about maybe getting some medication while you're
going through the griefing process. To make sure you get
some sleep, make sure you eat a nutritious meal, sure

(12:00):
that you stay exercising, because these things are the basic
needs that our body needs each and every day, and
these are things that grief can take away. Give yourself
some time. Grief doesn't have a deadline. Healing is not forgetting.

(12:20):
It's learning to carry the love and memories in a
new way. Find creative outlets, whether it be art, music, writing, gardening, heck,
even creating a podcast can channel the energy of grief
into something life giving. You will never know how your

(12:42):
story may help someone else. There may be someone else
going through the grieving process that you're going through. They
don't know how to talk about it, they don't know
how to explain it, they don't know how they're going
to get through it. But when they hear that you
are going through it too, they will realize that they
or not alone. Number four, There are times that grief

(13:06):
becomes overwhelming. When you are feeling overwhelmed, you're going to
need extra support. You're going to feel when you are
overwhelmed that you are stuck in deep sadness with no relief.
You will begin to isolate yourself from others. You will

(13:27):
have a persistent, hopeless outlook on life, and unfortunately, if
you do not deal with it properly, there will be
thoughts of self harm or that life isn't worth living anymore.
When you are that deep in grief, it is time
to seek professional help. That's why we have grief counselors,

(13:54):
support groups, helplines. These things exist for a reason because
no one should have to navigate grief alone. As most
of you know, I pastor a church. I try not
to talk about pastoring in this particular podcast. I keep
that from my other podcast called Just the Bible. We'll

(14:14):
do podcasts, but as a pastor, I recommend to every
family at time of a death or when someone's going
through a divorce to make sure that they have a
good grief counselor, because I found it important that when
you talk about your problems, it helps you get through
your problems. Several months ago, I had a family come

(14:36):
through and they had a death, and I spoke to
them and I said, let me encourage you to get
a grief counselor. We don't need a grief counselor. We
don't need any of that help. We'll get through this ourselves.
And I said, that's fine, but I did my job
by telling you to get one. And so grief counselors
today can help you in a multitude of ways. Now

(14:57):
you may say, well, I have faith in God, so
don't need a grief counselor. God gave a grief counselor
the ability to listen, to help you understand and to
help you process your grief. And yes, you can have
faith in God, and yes you can talk to God
about your problems. But God also gave you the sense
enough to be able to sit down and talk to

(15:19):
someone else who can give you the advice to get
you through this period of grief. There are certain websites
if you are thinking of harming yourself, the National Suicide
Hotline which is nine to eight eight if you need
to call them. In the United States, we have griefshare
dot org, which is a great tool for people experiencing grief.

(15:42):
There are tons of therapy apps. There's tons of online
counseling sources. There are tons of YouTube videos and different
outlets that you can get the help in navigating your grief. Now,
I want you to look at the long view of grief.
We look at to shortview of grief. Won't you look
at the long view? Grief over time changes. It will

(16:05):
never fully disappear, but often it transforms from a sharp
pain into a softer ache. You're not getting over it.
The goal isn't to erase grief, but to weave grief
as part of your story that made your life better
and not better growth Through grief. Many people will find

(16:29):
a new strength, empathy, and priorities after loss. This doesn't
minimize the pain, but it acknowledges that life can still
hold meaning. As you go through grief, remember that grief
is proof that you have loved, cared, and connected. It

(16:53):
is one of the hardest journeys we take as human beings,
but it is also a journey that will shape us
in who we will become. In closing today, I want
to remind you you do not have to be strong
every day. You do not have to have all the

(17:13):
answers to all of the questions. All you have to
do is take one step at a time and one
breath at a time. And if today is a heavy day,
remember it's okay. Just to get through today. Tomorrow will
take care of itself. Thank you so very much for

(17:35):
spending time with me today. If this conversation has helped you,
please share it with someone who might need to hear
that they're not alone in their grief. And if you
like more discussions like this, please be sure to follow
at jump In with Jonathan for future episodes. Until next time,

(17:55):
take care of yourself and give yourself permission to you.
Thank you for listening to today's episode on Jumping with Jonathan,
and keep in mind that life is better when you
jump in and have a blessed day
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