Tedashii Looks at His Sister’s Passing Through the Lens of Joy

 

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Tedashii’s younger sister Jackie was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in the fall of 2020. In June of 2021 the family moved Jackie to hospice care and a few days later she passed on to be with the Lord leaving behind her husband, 3 children, her siblings, and parents who all are so thankful for the love and support they have received.

On August 13, Tedashii took to Instagram for one of the first times since the loss of his sister and shared his thoughts on finding joy and hope in the midst of suffering.

AUDIO TRANSCRIPTION

“One thing that I wanted to share about because I’ve been thinking about it a lot in this season is Joy. Right? The Bible says the joy of the Lord will be our strength. And I’ve been really thinking about that man. It’s not common to consider joy in the midst of sorrow and grief. And even though there is room, and the Bible gives precedent and permission for grieving and sorrow, there’s still this idea of joy that is present. And the reason it’s been on my mind is because I feel like there have been days where I’ve felt hopeless and I didn’t even want to get out of bed and honestly, I needed strength and that verse came to mind. When the Bible says the joy of the Lord is our strength in the book of Nehemiah, it’s talking to the children of Israel who had just come back from exile and honestly there feeling kinda condemned because they failed the Lord. They failed his standard. They’re feeling condemned and sorrowful and for some reason the Bible says that they are told to go and eat and drink and share with others and have joy and that joy of the Lord will be their strength and I consider that because in certain moments I can relate to the fact that there is a hopelessness that exists and joy is the thing that kinda removes it. Not just finding hope but it feels like for me in my experience joy solidifies the hope that I have and so even though I have tears most days and even though I’m frustrated and angry, I’m fighting for joy. Because I want to hold on to the hope that I have and I need that strength. And so, man, we’re all going through something, I know I’m not the only one. We’re living in this fluctuating pandemic world where we’re struggling with even day to day responsibilities and you know job and life and family and whatever. And so we all are in a position where at times we’re going to have to choose joy. And not just choose it because we’re supposed to be happy. There are tons of people out here who are looking at people who grieve or who cry or who feel sad or down and they look at them in a sense of shame or condemnation or even just looking down upon them and honestly for most of those people they are living in unhealth because they are choosing to ignore what’s needed for better mental health and better emotional health. But if you’re trying to be healthy and you’re also trying to be holy, I think it’s something to consider that even in the midst of great sorrow there can be joy, because even in the midst of being tempted to be hopeless the real hope that we have is still true. And I feel like joy is the lens to look through to not only see it but to hold on to it and maintain it. And so that’s my hope. That we would fight for a level of joy and we wouldn’t let go.”

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