Grief leaves you raw, alone, despairing. It rolls over you in currents, for some or no reason at all. Anger can seize you when you need help and no one is there. That happened to me when, fighting with the pain of fibromyalgia, I tried to get up off the floor and couldn’t–and there were no arms to help me up, no words to encourage me. “Jerry, where ARE you?” I cried.

But God promises that He will “never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5b).  And I’ve had to say on occasion, “Please hold me, Lord, because I have nothing with which to hold onto you right now … No strength, no courage, no faith, nothing.” There’s a song that has ministered to me during those times. Part of it says:

In the dark of the midnight
Have I often hid my face
While the storm howls above me
And there’s no hiding place
Mid the crash of the thunder
Precious Lord, hear my cry
Keep me safe ’til the storm passes by

Many times Satan whispers
There is no need to try
For there is no end to sorrow
There’s no hope by and by
But I know Thou art with me
And tomorrow I shall rise
Where the storms never darken the skies

Til the storm passes over
Til the thunder sounds no more
Til the clouds roll forever from the sky
Hold me fast, let me stand
In the hollow of Thy hand
Keep me safe ’til the storm passes by.

If you’re hurting, please listen to this beautiful song, or read all the lyrics, at the site below:

I’m happily remarried to Don, and blessed beyond measure to have another opportunity to love and be loved.

But after Jerry died, I was crushed. I knew God still had a plan for me, but I floundered.  In a recent episode of “Call the Midwife”, Jenny lost her handsome, strong boyfriend unexpectedly. One of the nuns took Jenny’s face in her hands and says, “You will feel better. Not yet, but you will. You just keep living until you’re alive again.”

And there’s another wonderful promise in His Word:

For your Maker is your husband—
    the Lord Almighty is his name—
the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;
    he is called the God of all the earth. Isaiah 54:5.

A godly husband provides, loves, leads.

At times we desperately crave a physical hug. My nephew and niece rented an apartment from me, and after Jerry’s death they knocked on my back door every night for weeks, to put their arms around me. Provision.

It may be a visit from someone who just listens, who lets us unburden ourselves without interruption. Love.

It may be a scripture God presses into our spirits to encourage us, to remind us that He is there. Psalm 68:5 says: “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.” Leading.

Even in our anguish, God is FOR us! Let that truth sink in deep so that when we feel like nothing will ever be right again, we rely on the truth that God is STILL FOR US!

And a great day is coming for God’s people:

“Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them.

They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes.

There will be no more death, or mourning or crying or pain,

for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21:4-5 ESV

How have you experienced God’s provision, love, and/or leading in loss?