When your life becomes a shadow of its former self,
an aching pit howling in the center of your chest,
a desperate gasping for each breath,
a with-all-you’ve-got willing of yourself
to take the next step.

When you become
an empty longing for the Light,
barely afloat in an endless black pool
with no stars hovering above
and no beacons of hope –

You are not alone.

Many have walked this path before,
filled with grief and surrounded
by nothing
but reminders of it.

Many are walking
beside you right now,
whether you can perceive
their presence or not.

Please know,
you are surrounded
by an orchestra of angels
lifting you up with their song
as your Heavenly Father
conducts the winds,
which will lead you home.

Even as you wrestle with the darkness
and can’t understand
how a loving Power
would allow such pain,
you still can.

You just need to hold on.

to that glimmer in your soul …
that tiny drop of sparkle that remains –
that longing for what you lost,
that love,
which connects you
to an infinite ocean of itself.

Someday,
you will hear
the Light song.

It will rise up
all around you like the sun,
and you will know deeply in your soul –
it was there all along.

You will look up and realize
you are afloat
in an ocean of Divine Mercy
and always, always
have been.

You may even be filled
with the strength
to sing again.

I wrote this poem imagining what the families of children, who were murdered in Uvalde, Texas must be feeling in the days following the recent school shooting. It truly is an unimaginable sickening grief and horror and yet if we’re honest, many of us have had our own earthshattering events, which caused us to experience depths of grief we previously couldn’t have imagined and can help us have a gateway of compassion to empathize with others in even more horrific experience. While uniquely experienced by each individual to varying degrees, the human experience is truly universal.

I’m interested in that transition between our innocence of thinking life would always go our way and the events, which cause the floor to fall out from beneath us and bring us into a deeper emotional range than we could have imagined. From the other side of heartache in my own life (which never fully goes away), I can look back and see God’s hand guiding me, protecting me, redeeming me and guarding my soul through it all, and blessing me for my faithfulness to Him through that pain. There is a deep and abiding peace that can come from persisting in faith through trials. My prayer in writing this poem is that more can keep hope and discover that peace that surpasses understanding in their own hearts.

If you are going through any kind of trauma right now or still stuck processing trauma from events that occurred long ago, I encourage you to hold onto your faith and the love in your heart. No, it is not okay that this happened to you. No, God did not make this horrible thing happen to happen to you. We live in a broken world, and He weeps for you, while beckoning for you to believe in the hope of peace, which transcends understanding and creates everlasting unity in heaven with your loved ones and him.

He is healer and keeping your heart open to that truth will make all the difference for you in the long run – truly. He makes beauty from ashes. Hold onto your faith, and you will see.

What grief are you processing right now? Comment below, and I’ll be delighted to listen with love and keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

Lord, we live in a world, where unimaginably horrific evil occurs. It is hard to even imagine the pain of those, who have lost a loved one, especially a beloved child, to gun violence. The list keeps growing of those, who have experienced that pain, and there are so many other ways for hearts to break down here. Thank you for being with us through our trials and offering the promise of eternal life. Please Lord, fill our hearts with the peace that surpasses understanding, and give special graces of strength to those, who are walking through the aftermath of trauma right now. Bless them that they may hold onto the love in their heart, which connects them to the field of Your infinite grace and love. Give them the faith it will take to find rest in the truth of Your promises. In Jesus name, we pray.

written by Nicky Gant for http://www.uniteinprayer.org 6/28/2022