“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

There are times when the truth of scripture fails to penetrate. This failure isn’t due to a hardened heart or a willful decision of the one who is momentarily impermeable. Truth often bounces off of devastating pain.

Today I have a new sister in the family of grief. A friend lost her far-too-young-to-die daughter yesterday. I know what that means. It is losing the memories; the laughably silly memories that I hope my girls will remind me of someday as my ability to remember fades. It is losing the future memories that were still to be concocted out of daily life – perhaps a wedding, grandchildren, overcoming of troubles and just plain spending time together. It is losing all of the sleepless nights of prayers and hopes, the hours of joy and pain, everything that goes into raising a daughter. It is losing the yesterdays, todays, and tomorrows of a deeply loved daughter.

For hours and days and months and years this loss does NOT feel like a light and momentary trouble. It colors every waking moment with sorrow and weight. There are times in fresh grief when even fixing our eyes on what is unseen feels impossible because when we fix our eyes on what is unseen we see the one we miss so much.

Today I pray for my new sister in grief. I pray that she will sense the Lord carrying her through these first impossible hours and days of loss. I know that God will not leave or forsake her no matter what she feels and processes during this fresh pain. I pray that the day will come when she will comprehend the eternal glory that far outweighs our troubles. And I pray that she will know the compassionate eye of God fixed on her as she lives out her grief.