The Listening Project Archives

In-Between Day Offers Hope

by Kathy Brasby | Apr 18, 2025 | The Listening Project

Note: this post is a little different from the usual Listening Project posts because it’s from my perspective. But I think God directed these words and maybe they will give you hope in your grief.

For Christians, today is often overlooked–the day after Jesus’ crucifixion and the day before Easter. The in-between day.

But then I thought of the grief that the friends and followers of Jesus felt as he lay in the tomb.

I understand the numbness, the finality, the cold, hard grief that descended on them like an unexpected hailstorm, devastating their hearts and faith.

It’s easy to forget that those people faced searing agony. That in-between day had to be one of crushing loss of a beloved friend and the apparent shattering of the dreams they had about Jesus as the Messiah.

They had been slammed against a jagged wall of loss, and I understand their deep pain.

Their grief directly correlates to our grief.

But here’s the crucial part: their grief ended with the unbelievable joy of resurrection.

Our pain of losing loved ones is not the final word, but only a temporary state. We live in that in-between time now.

It is crushing at times. Searing and empty. Like for those friends of Jesus.

But resurrection is coming for us as well.

As his body was taken away, the women from Galilee followed and saw the tomb where his body was placed. Then they went home and prepared spices and ointments to anoint his body.
Luke 23:55-56

Beyond The Storm

by Kathy Brasby | Apr 16, 2025 | The Listening Project

The storm has passed, although its lashing winds and roaring thunder buffeted you more than you thought you could bear.

But now…

Yellow flashing light shreds the clouds, and golden lines spread across the sky. An explosion of light.

I am like that light, breaking through barriers and filling the dark places with my glory.

Grip my words and push dark thoughts of sorrow and heaviness into a locked trunk.

We’ve wept together for your losses in the storm, but we now walk together in victory.

Remember my words and my promises. Life pulsates in my kingdom. This world’s storms are not the end of the story.

I am the light that shatters the darkness. I am the glow of joy and life and freedom.

Take control of your thoughts that could lead you astray, and choose to follow my lead. Trust me on this day.

I am with you in the storm. And after.

Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress.
He calmed the storm to a whisper
and stilled the waves.
What a blessing was that stillness… Let them praise the Lord for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them.

Psalm 107:28-31

Note: Grief2GreatDay provides faith-filled resources for Christian women going through life’s hardest season.

Take Flight, My Love

by Kathy Brasby | Apr 7, 2025 | The Listening Project

The eagle gathers herself for only a moment. Then she spreads her wings. Can you hear the powerful whoosh, the strength of those wings as she launches herself into the wide-open atmosphere?

The hardest part is the liftoff, when she needs strong muscles to leave the ground. Then she can seek out the sky’s currents.

Everything appears different from this new perspective. To stay on the ground limits vision. So much can be seen once the eagle lifts off.

Don’t stay on the ground, my love. That choice feels safe in your grief but it obscures your view.

Please: no more hiding in the bushes. Find the courage to talk to others, to participate, to join where once you would have laid low.

You will be exposed, but you have strength like an eagle when you trust in me.

Don’t fear the open skies. Take flight in the strength I give you.

Soar.

But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:31

Fragrance of Grace

by Kathy Brasby | Mar 31, 2025 | The Listening Project

See how the incense arises like liquid smoke, curling in waves of sweet aroma?

My Israelite children understood how incense symbolized their prayers. So, also, your prayers flow as perfume to me.

Now breathe in the sweet and cleansing scents of my presence.

Inhale my presence. Do you feel me calm your heart? I will stroke your head and give you fresh wisdom. New life.

Don’t let today’s responsibilities steal away what I offer you: my care and my breath.

Allow me to permeate your day as the fragrance of my love and life reaches deep within you.

Rest in me, dear one.

Let me strengthen you always.

When the days thicken with loss and dread, breathe in my fragrant love.

I am here.

This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again. I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

Ezekiel 37:5-6

The Rose That Grief Built

by Kathy Brasby | Mar 25, 2025 | The Listening Project

A rose bud opens in the storm and a new kind of beauty emerges.

Battered but resilient.

You didn’t think you’d grow from grief. Such fierce loss demands a great deal: so many details, so many responsibilities. Bank accounts. Relationships. Decisions.

And always the gaping crater of loss.

But compassion and kindness can bloom in a tempest. The slashing pain of grief can harden a heart or soften it.

Something of value has been released in you through this battle. I brought you understanding and unveiled deep love. So that you are able to give what I have given to you.

Stand tall, my love, and let your new life unfurl.

We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.

2 Corinthians 4:8–9

Once You Crawled

by Kathy Brasby | Mar 20, 2025 | The Listening Project

You crawled when the pain drilled into your heart. Rocks bit into your knees and tore through your skin.

But you stretched out a hand, feeling the grit of the path scrape your palms.

You reached out anyway.

Then a day came when you planted your feet and stood. When I whispered, “Can you take one tiny step?” you spread your arms wide to steady your balance and inched forward.

Now you walk. Your knees still ache and your hands remain bruised.

Look where you have come. You have climbed rugged rocks and towering boulders.

Microscopic steps have lengthened into strides.

New life whispers. Do you see the glimpses of new direction ahead? Of hope?

I walk with you, as I have every inch of the way. I’ve never left you. My love surrounds you like a warm pool, washing your torn knees and aching palms.

You move with faltering progress now, my love, but one day you will dance with me. We will spin and twirl, celebrating new life.

Keep walking, my love.

For who is God except the Lord?
Who but our God is a solid rock?
God arms me with strength,
and he makes my way perfect.
He makes me as surefooted as a deer,
enabling me to stand on mountain heights.

Psalm 18:31-33

In-Between Day Offers Hope

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Beyond The Storm

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Take Flight, My Love

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Fragrance of Grace

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The Rose That Grief Built

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Once You Crawled

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