Hope After an AbortionSýnishorn

Emotions: Grief

Yesterday, our reading in Ecclesiastes 3 led us to take stock of our emotions as a whole and bring them to the Lord. Today we turn specifically to the emotion of grief.

Psalm 6 is full of the language of grief – confusion, exhaustion, anguish, weariness, weeping, anger, penitence, loneliness, and a cry for this season of mourning to end. The psalmist even goes so far as to describe his bed as soaked and drenched with tears. The psalmist is not ashamed of his grief but recognizes that grief is the natural and healthy way to process his past and present losses before the Lord. Grief becomes his prayer language as the psalmist cries out to God, asking to be heard.

An important step in healing from an abortion is grieving. Grieving may look different at different times, as we experience cycles of grief or varied emotions. Even years after a loss, especially at key moments in our lives such as anniversary dates, someone else’s pregnancy or loss, or the birth of a future child, we may still experience a strong sense of grief.

And yet, as Psalm 6 indicates, although grief may last for a long time, we can grieve before the Lord and know that He will hear our cries and eventually enable us to experience less debilitating sadness and even peace. This promise that the Lord will hear us should encourage us not to hide our grief but acknowledge it.

So how do we bring our grief to the Lord in prayer? Psalm 6 encourages us to be specific with our losses, describing our grief to God and asking for both mercy and resolution. We can do the same. We can identify the significant losses in our life connected to our unexpected pregnancy or abortion. These losses might include people or relationships, emotions, a spiritual connection to God or your faith community, a sense of self, dreams for the future, and so on. 

The losses we experience resulting from an abortion are very real, even when the abortion was our own choice. Stepping into our individual grief and acknowledging our losses can be painful, but it can also bring about a sense of relief, even healing. 

Today, let the words of the psalmist become your way of praying these specific losses and this grief back to the Lord. May you say, “the Lord has heard my weeping, my cry for mercy, and accepts my prayer.”