Cold Comfort for Grievers of Suicide
"What miserable comforters you all are!" (Job 16:2b).
After my husband died by suicide, most people were wonderful, but a few said inappropriate things that made this difficult time harder. I'm now a pastor and facilitator for Christian Survivors of Suicide support group in Dallas, and have heard many comforter "horror stories" similar to Job's over the years.
I believe most "miserable comforters" genuinely want to help the grieving person, but are making the mistaken assumption that there are "magic words" that relieve pain.
This misguided belief causes the would-be comforter to not realize how certain remarks actually feel to a person in deep grief. I asked survivors of loved ones' suicides to tell me the worst things people said to them in their times of grief, and have attempted to categorize those remarks by the feelings they invoked in the survivors.
Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/dos-and-donts-for-comforting-grieving-families-after-a-suicide-125767/