Loss: Encouragement After Losing a Loved One to AddictionSample

Today’s encouragement for hope in the face of loss is written by Kris Darrah, who lost her daughter Lexi in 2018.

The words of Psalm 23 hung in the frigid January air as the small group of us stood huddled under the tent, shivering, making a feeble attempt to sing. Everything seemed dead and gray, from the withered grass at our feet to the bare tree branches waving against the overcast sky. I was grateful for the cold—the graveside service would have to be short. I didn’t know how long I could stand there looking at the white casket in front of me, knowing it contained the body of my daughter.

Lexi was only twenty-one. She had battled Type I diabetes since the age of two, and her teen years had brought the onset of mental struggles, which had led to drug usage and then addiction. A combination of the three had taken her life, and I felt my world had shattered into pieces.

The service ended, and I hurried to the car, overwhelmed at the thought of the church service to come. My heart ached for it to honor Lexi well and to reflect the special person who she was, but part of me wanted to just hide in the car and not face the pain.

As the cold wind whipped around me, I pushed my hands deep into my pockets. Feeling a piece of paper, I pulled it out, thinking it might be trash I needed to throw away. But what I saw stopped me in my tracks.

Lexi’s handwriting.

Confused, I took a closer look, and saw it was a church bulletin from months earlier. It was full of Lexi’s notes and doodles from the sermon that day. She had probably handed me the bulletin after church and I had stuffed it in my pocket. How had I not noticed it until that very day, at that very moment?

As we drove from the cemetery across town to the church, I read through Lexi’s notes, tears swimming in my eyes, in disbelief at such a treasure. It was as if God had reached down to give me a reminder that Lexi was indeed with Him, safe and sound. I had her notes about Him and His Word to prove it.

As I sat through that service, I held onto that piece of paper like I was holding Lexi’s hand. God had given me what I needed to get through one of the hardest days of my life. The days, weeks, and months ahead would be far from easy. But finding those notes was a sign that God was with me, and that He would continue to be with me, providing the strength and courage to get through each and every day.