Navigating Grief to Hope and Healing预览

Finding Support in the Sorrow

Heartbreak is a wound, but it won’t crush your spirit. 

Like any wound, a heartbreak takes time to heal. Initially, it’s nearly impossible to escape the pain. It’s raw and tender, but as time passes, the wound does heal. It changes shape and texture. You remember what caused the pain, but it doesn’t hurt like it did when it first happened.

Just as two people with a broken arm will heal at a different pace, grief isn’t one-size-fits-all. But we can nurture the process by clearing the noise. By praying. By knowing and believing that the pain we are feeling will not crush our spirits—just as God promises in His word. I’ve definitely found comfort in these types of promises in the Bible. In fact, the two Scripture passages from today’s devotion are practically smudged in my Bible from my looking back at them so many times.

When I lost my husband, I was blessed to have a wonderful support system. A dear friend of mine showed up at the house and stayed with me. She didn’t ask—she just took action. She didn’t impose, didn’t push, but was just there for me. Her husband was kind enough to let her leave him behind to be with me, and she stayed for nearly two months. It was hard to see her go, but it did buy me some time before I had to face things on my own. I was listening earnestly for God’s voice, but it wasn’t until she left that I really heard Him and acted on what He was saying. In tomorrow’s devotion, I’ll share more about those actions, but before I do that, I want to really hone in on those early emotions and experiences that feel like they will break you first.

In my experience, the grief was harder when the second year rolled around. By then, other people had put the loss behind them, but I was experiencing firsts and missing my husband more than ever. I hadn’t expected that. Not a single person warned me that the second year would be harder, and it really caught me off-balance. I cried more, and the loss would hit me at the most random times. 

My life has taken so many turns since then. Unexpected paths have brought newfound joys, and although I will always miss my husband, I have a very different happiness now that is just as special. My walk with God has become stronger, and for that reward alone, I can’t deny that there were blessings in that journey.

Heavenly Father, thank you for always being with us and guiding us through the valleys of shadows. For those who are walking their own path of loss or grief, I pray you will show yourself clearly to them so they will know they are not alone. Strengthen them and help them to be brave when facing the seemingly hard or impossible. And help them to trust you and embrace the new experiences that you have prepared in advance for them. Amen.