When One Grieves We All Grieve

Our city of Kamloops is grieving the loss of two young lives. We cannot begin to understand the unendurable ache these families are facing, but my hope is that our sadness as a community, however small it is in comparison to theirs, may help them find their way through the darkness. My hope is that our collective prayers come to them in waves of love to cushion their despair.

God, I pray you encircle these families in your love and nourish them with your presence. As they walk through the valley of grief, may they sense the fullness of your love pouring down from heaven and filling them with hope. Pour forth your healing light so that they may become whole again in time. I pray they sense angels all around--gentle, healing, ministering angels caring for their hearts. I ask that they would hear the kind voice of God like a lullaby, "I will not ever leave you alone in your pain. I will walk through this storm with you until you find your way back to the light. During the long nights of weeping, I will weep along with you. I will hold you like a father holds a child and wrap you in my comfort. Lay your heart in my hand and let me heal it. Your boys are with me now, and though it feels like they are light years away, they are only separated from you by a thin veil. They are very close and only a breath away. They are in the presence of love, healed and whole. There is no sorrow and pain in heaven. I have you in my arms, and I have them."

Take some time and pray for these families, so they know their community stands with them in love and mourns.

"The planet grief. An incalculable number of light years from the warmth of the sun. When the rain falls, it falls in droplets of grief, and when the light shines, it is waves and particles of grief. From whatever direction the wind blows--south, east, north or west--it blows cinders of grief before it. Grief stings your eyes and sucks the breath from your lungs." Giles Blunt