3 Prayers to Comfort a Heart Suffering Loss

Posted on Mar 06, 2024 Topic : Inspirational/Devotional, Women's Christian Living
Posted by : Gayle Roper

Life after the death of a loved one is full of grief, uncertainty, and loneliness.

In the following prayers excerpted from Prayers for a Widow’s Journey, author Gayle Roper talks to the Lord about what it feels like to be caught in the unsought solitude of widowhood. Each prayer is accompanied by a verse from Scripture that grounds the prayer not in self-pity, but in an awareness of the boundless care of the God of all comfort. Rather than explaining grief away, Gayle acknowledges the pain and invites you to trust God even in these darkest of days.

While written primarily for those who have lost their husbands, these prayers will stir the heart of anyone who knows the bitter taste of loss and longs for the balm of God’s comforting presence.

Prayer 1: ...I will not leave you comfortless...

There’s a gigantic hole, Lord. A cavern. An abyss, empty and black. Ugly.

That may sound like overkill, like overstatement, but is it? The large part of me that my husband filled with his love and his presence has been ripped away. I look the same. I sound the same. I am not the same. The married part of me has disappeared. Poof! Gone. All that’s left is silence and pain.

What will fill that gaping chasm that used to teem with life and love and purpose? Only You, Lord. Only You who will never leave me comfortless.

I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

John 14:18 KJV

Prayer 2: ...nothing in all creation...

Lord, I’m at one end of a long tunnel, viewing everything and everyone from a distance. I’m disconnected, like there’s a sheet of glass between me and the world. I see what’s going on around me, but I can’t touch it or it me. For someone who’s used to engaging with people, here-but-not-here is strange and unnerving.

Lord, what a comfort to know that no matter how vague and lost I am, You are ever present. No matter how disconnected I feel, You hold me close. Thank You that nothing—not loss, not vagueness, not grief—can separate me from You.

I am convinced that...nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39 NLT

Prayer 3: ...forgetting what lies behind...

Lord, I feel guilty when I start to feel better. It’s like grief says, “You need me, kiddo. I’m the only one who keeps him alive for you. As long as you ache, you won’t forget him. You start to hope, and he’ll disappear.”

I know that’s a grievous lie. He won’t ever leave me. But it’s true that opening myself to hope will force him to stand aside so I can learn to live with less of him. This is both a harsh truth and the key to living fully again.

Jesus, give me the grace to press on.

One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:13-14