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LISTEN

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”—PSALM 34:18 (NIV)

Reflect
Here’s something you might have noticed: once people start talking about their lives, the stories start flowing. Before you realize it, the group has turned into an impromptu support club, and no one even voted on a name.

There’s something truly wonderful about sharing your story. When opening up about your struggles, it gives others the
courage to share their own. Stories of incurable cancer, of struggles with mental health, of a death or a fractured
relationship, of complicated or embarrassing grief, of a medical crisis that should never have happened. People are hungry to open up their pain to the sunlight of someone else’s listening heart. And, somehow, in the telling and in the listening, we may glimpse a bit of healing. So, here’s the thing: your story matters. Yes, yours. Even the parts you’re convinced no one wants to hear. Someone does. Write it down, tell a friend, or just let it out somehow.

Respond
If it feels right, consider sharing a piece of your story with someone. You never know—it might give them the courage to share theirs too.

Blessing for life after a loss

Blessed are you,

who feel the wound of fresh loss.
Or of a loss…no matter how fresh…

that still makes your voice crack all
these years later.

Still struck by its impossibility.
Frozen in disbelief.
How can this be?

It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

Blessed are you, fumbling around
for easy answers or quick truths
to try to make this go down easier.
You who are dissatisfied
with the shallow theology and trite platitudes.

Blessed are those who
demand a blessing.
We are are, wrestling with God.
Wounded. Broken. Changed.

Blessed are we,
who keep parenting,
who keep our keep our lives afloat,
and who stock the pantry…

because…what choice do we have
but move forward
with an unchosen life
we thought
we couldn’t endure?
One small step.

One act of hope at a time.8

8 Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie. “For Life After Loss” in The Lives We Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days. (New York: Convergent Books, 2023). 86-87.

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