Monthly Archives: March 2024

Like many of you, I have experienced many grief-filled situations. From dealing with multiple disappointments at work, pregnancy losses, a bank failure and financial decline that challenged me. However, none has left me feeling hopeless and depressed like the adverse experiences I am now facing.

Although the leap year 2024 has just started, I have already had a full plate of emotional trauma. In January, there were two deaths in my family: one elderly relative on January 1, and one very young relative 23 days later; both sudden and unexpected. During the intervening period between the burials, I nearly lost 12 other family members on a very turbulent JetBlue flight, reminder that God does not give us more than we can bear.

Though we often don’t stop to consider the possibility of losing loved ones, a long-held dream, an opportunity to improve our circumstances, or even our health, all too soon, the tables turn, and we come face to face with a deep loss or some gruesome tragedy.

For me, the pain of the loss of my young relative has been major. I’ve felt heartsick and numb for days at a time and I’m still experiencing fitful rest at nights. I have tried to channel my mind away from the pain and focus on other matters of importance but alas, the pain seeps into my consciousness and there I am processing my sad thoughts all over again. I wonder how I will recover and be whole again and can I even be whole again? I ask God, what can I do to ease the pain?

Then I went to His word and discovered the answer was always there. “Cast your cares upon Him for he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).  How do I do that, I thought? Through prayer, of course.

Amid tragedy, prayer enables us to overcome our grief, and to find hope again. It gives us an opportunity to become intimate with God; to overcome the sense of worthlessness, aloneness, and shame we feel; and to align our hearts with God’s. Prayer tells us that God is always there and we can go to Him. Truly, “He’s only a prayer away.”

Prayer assures me that God is still present, still sitting on the throne, still loving us, and still powerful enough to meet all our needs; still sitting where He was when He lost His only beloved Son.

In my lowest moments, the one constant that causes me to find hope and strength is prayer. I am writing this blog to remind myself about a few ways in which ways prayer is enabling me to overcome my sadness, and to share them with you.

• Pray the Psalms: In my current study of the Book of Psalms, I’ve discovered that the Psalms are particularly helpful, as many of them are songs of lament that verbalize the pain the Psalmists were feeling. Though burdened, they fearlessly brought their grief and struggles to God, and often praised him for His power to change the things they were experiencing. Psalms 23 and 78 come to mind. I know that it may take some time for me to initiate full on praise session, but praying according to God’s will is bringing hope and comfort.

• Pray and Claim Bible Promises: Beyond the Psalms, there are other portions of Scripture, Bible promises, that we can pray in faith when our hearts are heavy. I know that God loves me deeply so the promise that he will be with me when I pass through the waters and the fire (Isaiah 43:2) are particularly encouraging. I have found great solace in this promise because I know that God knows where I am every moment of the day, and “he will never leave me nor forsake me” (Deuteronomy 31:8). There is no place, however dark, that Jesus cannot reach me (Matthew 14:25). He is listening and He longs to answer with love, compassion, and grace(Isaiah 30:18).

• Ask God for Mercy: I recall when I got the news about the tragic death of my young relative, I was stunned. Words failed me as I burst into tears, only able to repeatedly mutter the words, “Lord, have mercy! Lord Have Mercy! O God, please have mercy on me.”  As a mature Christian, I felt as if I should be able to hold it together; that my faith was failing me. Then I remembered that Jesus also wept at the loss of his friend Lazarus, and tears are a language God understands. Being open and honest with God in prayer has given me permission to express my anger, frustration, confusion, and sadness to god, and to trust him to lift me up with His mighty and righteous right hand.

While the trauma associated with the losses are still raw, I am sure that He is saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness” (Jeremiah 31:3). I am ready to hear it.  Thank you, Lord, for your unfailing love!

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