For a Christian, how long does it take to get over the death of a loved one?
That’s a very hard question to answer and I assume from your question that you are grieving over the loss of a loved one. I’m sorry that you are experiencing this pain. If we live long enough, we will all experience the loss of someone that we love. Even for the believer, death has a sting to it. Of course, the believer goes directly to be with the Lord after his death as we read in 2 Corinthians 5:8, “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” Still, the loss of a loved one leaves behind others who will mourn and grieve over their passing.
In Genesis, we have the story of Joseph who was sold into slavery by his brothers. They made up an elaborate story of how Joseph had been eaten by beasts and told their father this story. He was so grieved. Genesis 37:35 tells us, “And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.” Joseph’s father, Jacob, refused all efforts to be comforted. He said that he would mourn for his son for the rest of his life. I think most of us can understand his feelings. Of course, Jacob just looked at the physical side of death. He lost his son and he was very hurt by it. There is another side of death. As we read in 2 Corinthians 5:8, when the believer dies, they are immediately in the presence of the Lord. If your departed loved one was a believer on the Lord Jesus Christ, then you can take comfort in realizing that he or she is now enjoying the savior and is experiencing great joy.
For the believer, there is great comfort found in the words of the Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. That says, “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
When a believer in the Lord Jesus passes away, they go to be with the Lord. Soon, the Lord will return in the clouds to take his church, his bride, to glory to be with Him there. All those who have died, the Lord will bring with Him when He comes. Their bodies will be resurrected into glorious bodies fit for Heaven. Then we all, believers that had passed away and believers still living, will go up together to be with the Lord in the clouds, never to leave His side. The Lord directs us to comfort one another with these words. I pray you will be comforted by the truth of the soon coming of the Lord. I pray the Lord will give you His peace as you wait for the Lord’s return.