Prayer in Grief

Lord, You wept at the tomb of Your friend, so I know tears are not a failure of faith. I bring You my grief exactly as it is: sometimes numb, sometimes sharp, sometimes so ordinary that I forget for an hour and then remember with fresh pain. You are not surprised by any of it. Thank You for the years, the voice, the habits, the love that does not disappear just because a person is no longer here. What was given was real, and nothing real is lost forever in You. Be near to me in the lonely hours, in the empty chair, in the dates that still ache. Send me people who will sit with me without trying to fix it. And when I am ready, let this grief slowly turn into gratitude without ever becoming forgetfulness. Until the day when every tear is wiped away, hold what I cannot hold, and keep my love safe in Your keeping. Amen.