I remember a point of time in my life when I asked myself inevitably,
"Does God ever grief?"
Or rather, the evolved form now of that question goes this way,
"Does God grief the way I do when I lose someone I love?"
I remember this quote from Lit class during JC, quoting from Shakespeare (Macbeth, if anyone is interested to know):
"Give sorrow words. The grief that does not speak; Whispers the o're-fraught heart, and bids it break."
Basically it meant that if we keep our grievances unshared, the heart will eventually die. (For an etymology of that quote, you would want to ask me in person...)
It is a vicious cycle too, the pain forces us to find a desperate solution, which will lead to regret, or worst, failure which will force us deeper; making it even harder to come out of it.
I've learnt over the last few years in church that nobody is ever immune to grief - and in fact the more immune to it the person seems, the more affected the person is.
So what is the key element here to ease the pain for us believers?
I'd say to pray and at the same time, share it with fellow believers.
Be it a loss of someone, a failed attempt at doing something, a miscalculation that's causing problems now, or just a mis-step and a busted toe, the cell group is a great place to share - be it with fellow cell group members or just to the cell group leader. (At least in the cell group, you know the leader/members well enough - I really hope.)
Especially with the fervent praying culture of the church - there is no doubt in the prayerful-ness of each other to keep each other in prayer.
Let all anxieties free when you share - you're supposed to feel better that someone knows what's going on in your life - and be able to pray and look out for you in any circumstances.
Sometimes our inhibitions (e.g. the person won't understand, I'm bothering the CGL) get in the way and we end up running up and down in our little small, confined spaces feeling worst.
Remember too, there is power in agreement - especially in prayer.
I remember contributing to a (now defunct) local Christian community site and I'm amazed in wonderment the testimonies people share about coming out of their problems - and most of the did the right thing to share it and have a positive attitude towards it. They prayed (and us contributors and moderators too) and worked towards getting out of the vicious cycle.
So I encourage everybody to be as open, and face your problems with fellow brethrens of the faith; keeping a positive attitude towards and also pray for guidance to deal with it.
Derrick
P.S. Positive attitude =X= sitting around and believing that God will automatically clear the problem for you. There is still work to be done. This is not a Billy Joel song. Going "And so it goes," isn't any form of defense.
