Illustration
Scripture
Romans 12:15·NIV Translation
Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.
Devotional
Someone Right Now
I'm not sure if it made it onto the news in the U.S, but about ten years ago in the UK, a fifteen-year-old girl named Natasha Ednan-Laperouse died on a plane from an allergic reaction to a sandwich. Her dad was sitting right next to her. He did everything he could, but sadly, she didn't make it.
Her father, Nadim, spoke at my uncle's church recently, and he sent us the recording of it. It was incredibly moving hearing him describe her final moments. He said five angels came down to be with her as medics performed CPR on her. I was weeping.
He wasn't a Christian at the time, but has since found faith. But, in the testimony, he described the months that followed as being "mortally wounded," breaking down in bathrooms at work, putting a brave face on while falling apart from the inside. Everything he'd built his life on, his strength, his ability to control things, all of it was gone in a moment.
Right now, at this exact moment, somewhere in the world, someone is living the worst moment of their life. A parent is sitting in a hospital waiting room. A wife is answering a phone call that will divide her life into before and after. A father is hearing words that no father should ever have to hear.
We don't know their name. We'll probably never meet them. But they're real, and they're living it right now, this second, while we go about our day.
I think that's part of what Paul meant when he wrote, "Mourn with those who mourn." Not just the people we know. Not just the grief that touches our lives directly. But a willingness to carry an awareness that the world is full of people who are breaking right now, quietly, behind closed doors, in hospital corridors, on ordinary Thursday mornings.
So today, if you're not the one breaking, pray for the person who is. You don't need to know their name. God does.
And if you are the one breaking today, know this: you are not invisible. You are not forgotten. Someone, somewhere, is praying for you right now, even if they don't know your name either. And more than that, God is close. Not watching from a distance, but close, holding you together.
If you'd like to see his testimony, here is a link to it on YouTube.
Prayer
Lord, hold me together where I'm breaking, because grief is pulling me apart, fracturing me in places I didn't know could break, threatening to shatter what barely holds.
I feel like I'm coming undone, the loss so heavy that pieces of me are separating, cracking under weight I was never meant to carry, barely holding together.
Teach me that falling apart in grief isn't weakness but honesty, that bringing my broken pieces to You is exactly what You want me to do instead of pretending I'm whole.
This loss has broken something deep inside me, something I don't know how to fix, can't repair on my own, and I need Your hands to hold what's splitting apart.
Help me stop trying to hold myself together through sheer willpower when what I need is to collapse into Your arms and let You do the holding instead.
Remind me that You're close to the brokenhearted, that grief doesn't push You away but draws You near, that my breaking is where Your holding becomes most tender.
Give me permission to fall apart knowing You'll hold me, freedom to grieve without fearing I'll shatter completely, trust that Your grip on me is stronger than grief's.
Let me be held by You today, Lord, hold me together where I'm breaking, keeping me intact through this loss, holding the pieces grief keeps trying to pull apart.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.
Journaling Prompts
- Q.Is there someone in your life right now who might be breaking quietly? What's one thing you could do today?
- Q.How do you respond when grief or loss doesn't make sense? Do you run from God or toward Him?
- Q.When you were at your lowest, did you feel seen? What made the difference?
- Q.What does it look like to mourn with those who mourn in your everyday life, not just when grief touches you directly?
- Q.Where do you need God to hold you together today?
A quiet moment with God,
every morning
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