One day early in my grief, I cried to God: "Today I hurt. A piece of me wants to run far away, to hide in a deep cave, to ignore all my responsibilities, to let someone else care for me."
God gave me answers that helped me in my pain. Those may help you in yours as well.
You need to take only one step today, not climb a mountain. You don’t have to plant your flag in the peak.
God’s Invitation to Rest
Rest for a bit at the edge of the path. Let tears come if they will.
God is your strength and your love. And He will wait for you.
The pain will never stop. It will fade. Don’t worry about how long the process will take. Think of one step.
One step into the light. Into joy. Into a future that is filled with love and kindness.
Rest for a bit with the Lord. Let His music of comfort and healing fill you. His strength will carry you today.
Why One Step Is Enough
One step forward. Just one. You don’t have to win the marathon.
You only need to take one step.
A Prayer for Strength in Grief
Father God, your strength is enough to heal the pain of grief and loss. Help Your loved ones step into Your light and rest in Your love. This process takes time, but You promise never to leave us. We are grateful for your sure presence. Amen.
For additional Christian grief resources, see the Grief Support page on my website. I have also written a book, Cutting Through Despair: Dare to Hope, which explores stories of people overcoming hardships as they trust God.
God is with those grieving loved ones. He will heal your wounds, give you His presence, and never leave you.
Of course, you hurt. Grief wounds the soul. Loss mutilates peace.
How Does God Heal a Broken Heart?
Listen to God’s voice. His words pierce the pain. Healing happens as He pours His love and restoration into your wounds like a healing salve.
Pain is not evil, but only a sign of a wound. You have lost a part of yourself. Where the two were one, one was torn away.
Your wounds paralyze you at times. But God will heal you. He promises newness and transformation.
God will never leave you. You will never be separated from God.
How to Rest in God’s Embrace
Rest in Him. Lay your head on God’s chest. Feel His arms holding you into a warm embrace.
He is with you always, to the end of the age.
Always.
A Prayer for the Brokenhearted
Dear Lord, thank You for Your promises to us. We ask for healing even as pain rolls over our minds and bodies. We ask for Your mercy and Your strength to help us. In Jesus name, amen.
One day you will stand with the angels and with your beloved to hear songs of worship and joy. Can you imagine it?
But not yet.
As surely as you can tune your ears to hear future music, you can listen to the sounds of creation worshiping Me now. Do you hear the sweet sparrows and mourning doves lifting their voices? Smell the summer rain and taste the richness of a berry. Rub your hand over the bark of a tree. See how it rises in strength and persistence?
Notice the world around you.
No hardship steals away the enduring beauty of My creation. In this world there will be hardships, but I have already won the victory. You need not be afraid. Only look at Me and what I create.
We are on the path to eternity, where you will experience the full beauty of My love.
Keep walking.
The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world. Psalm 19:1-4a NLT
A memory rose this morning out of the fog of your grief, of you and your husband standing on a hill overlooking the ocean. With the sweet memory also came some sadness of regret, for you can't remake that moment. But you know you never could again anyway. Whether or not he had died.
Recalling past events lets you relive the sweet times. Don't avoid recollections because they bring pain. If you avoid the pain, you avoid the welcome memories.
Instead, sometimes let the past remind you of the times you loved and were loved by others. When you explored and hugged and laughed together.
Those are part of the rich fabric of who you are.
Memories are another of My gifts to you. Enjoy them.
I remember the days of old.
I ponder all your great works
and think about what you have done.
I lift my hands to you in prayer.
I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain.
Even before the blue cloud surrounded the house, I was very sorry I had knocked on the door.
My sister, Ann, and I used to manage several rental houses for landlords. One day, we had to deliver a notice to a late-paying tenant to either pay up or move out.
These have to be hand-delivered to the unit, and we thought that meant knocking on the door and handing the form to the tenant.
What innocents we were.
By then, the air was turning blue. The only clean words were, “Hey, get back here, Foofie.”
I knocked, intending to hand over the form. When the tenant didn’t respond immediately, I started taping the paperwork to the front door.
Then the door flew open. The tenant stormed out, grabbed the paper, crumpled it into a tight ball, and threw it on the ground. “I don’t accept notices on my door.”
She said a lot more, but I filtered out the swear words.
Then she bolted into the street, chasing a little dog that scooted past our ankles. A dog she wasn’t supposed to have.
I stood at the front door, coughing from the blue air, and watching the tenant darting around the street like a defensive back trying to tackle a quick-footed running back. Foofie kept skittering just out of reach.
I enjoyed the entertaining romp for a moment, but then I remembered my vulnerable position on the front step. I smoothed out the page, taped it to the door, and sprinted to the car. I was ready for a fast getaway, but Ann said, “I’m not moving until that dog is gone. Just what we need is to run over the dog, too.”
We finally escaped through the blue cloud. After that, we flipped a coin to see who went to the door. No knocking. We did a tape-and-run.
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