While the rest of America sat in stunned silence on September 11, 2001, Christian music artist Tammy Trent was dealing with a deeper, more personal tragedy.
The day before, Tammy and her husband Trent Linderink (Tammy uses her husband’s first name as her stage last name) were on a part mission trip/part vacation to Jamaica. Tammy watched as her husband of 11 years dove into the peaceful waters of the famed Blue Lagoon – and never resurfaced.
Tammy spent the rest of the day with rescue divers trying to locate her husband, with no success. The next day, she woke to a world gone mad, as planes hit the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Her family was unable to get to her as she grieved for her husband, whose body was eventually found, as all flights were shut down. She was stuck in Jamaica for 10 more days, unable to get home or have family get to her.

In time, as her grief started to slowly dissipate, Tammy was given a platform to share her testimony around the world, including spots as a featured speaker and performer with Women of Faith and The Revolve Tour. She’s also authored two books about her experience–Learning To Breathe Again: Choosing Life and Finding Hope After A Shattering Loss (W Publishing, 2004) and the devotional/gift book, Beyond The Sorrow: There’s Hope in the Promises of God, (J. Countryman, 2005)–in addition to making her return to the music spotlight with an emotional and therapeutic recording, 2006’s I See Beautiful. Her current album, Stronger, released this summer.
Here, Tammy shares a guest blog post about getting through those times when life seems like nothing but grief and disappointment.

From Grief to Joy

by Tammy Trent
I was talking to a friend the other day about how to get through disappointments and failures in life. We both said at the same time, “Where is God in the tough stuff and why do I have to go through this?” That is the key word: THROUGH. You’re not going to get stuck but you’re going to get through this. Not somehow, but triumphantly.
It’s like a birth canal. Having a baby is a hard and painful process. (Now, I’m not a mother yet, but I have seen Hollywood movies and I’ve heard the screaming!) But the celebration comes after the baby is born–the end of labor and the beginning of new life. I believe God can take your hard situation and shape it into a cross for you to use as a birth canal into a NEW SEASON of opportunity and joy and resurrection.
If you’ve lost your joy along the way it’s probably because you’ve not ended something properly. You just keep carrying around bits and pieces of disappointment, failure and hurt into every new season of life.
Ask yourself these questions:
1. Am I living in the disappointment of what was or in the joyful expectation of what could be?
2. Am I living in the repressed anger of what should have been or in the hopeful expectation of what could be?
If you change your paradigm today and see the end of something – as painful as it is – as a birth canal, you’ll move from the place of regret to the place of release. Where would you rather live today?
There is a time and a season for everything, so give yourself permission to grieve your loss, your pain, your hurt. But then you have to move on into the NEW SEASON, letting go of yesterday’s disappointments so you can see tomorrow’s possibilities.
Stop mourning over what you wished had happened differently. You can’t change what was. It was. It was. What IS doesn’t have to be what was.
Here are some scriptures to wrap your heart around:
Isaiah 61:3 “To grant those who mourn in Zion. To give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for a spirit of despair, that they would become trees of righteousness”.
Hebrews 11:1 “Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we don’t see it”.
Hebrews 13:5 “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you”.
Be encouraged today and may the Word of God be a sweet reminder on your journey at this moment. He is all around you and truly interested in what you have to say. You are never alone, not even for a moment. God can take the ashes of your life and turn them into something very beautiful. Press into your faith today. I believe you’ll find joy in His word and in His presence.
Psalm 16:11 “You make known to me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy, at your right hand are pleasures forevermore”.

To learn more about Tammy Trent, visit her website.
Visit Heir Chex Digital Servicing to get a free download of Tammy’s latest single, “Rain On Me,” for a limited time only!
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