Hurt Help Hope: A 5-Day Grief Devotional for TeensSample

Get It Together

Have you lost track of time since your person died? Have you forgotten where you put your phone or if you ate breakfast? Are you having trouble remembering assignments at school or work? If so, you’re not alone. After your person dies, your brain can get kind of foggy! It’s doing a lot of processing to understand the permanence of your loss and the implications of it for your life. When your brain is working overtime, it makes sense that some of the basic tasks of life start to fall through the cracks.

While it can be tough to navigate life when you’re feeling fatigued or forgetful, Scripture reminds us that we don’t need to work through our day planners on our own. Our steps are ordered by God; God knows your calendar even better than you do because he designed it himself! He knows where you’ve been and where you’re going. He knows the requirements of this day, and he’ll help you make it through them as best you can.

Knowing that God has a big plan in store can offer comfort, but what about the everyday nitty-gritty? Where is God in that? Thankfully, God’s got that covered too. The psalmist reminds us that not only does God know the pathway you’ll walk, he’s placing your foot each step of the way. You don’t need to look a week or a month in advance right now. By God’s grace, he’ll give you the wisdom and discernment for your next step; every single footfall you make will be directed by him.

As you’re muddling through the confusion and fog of grief, take this truth to heart. You can move as slowly as you need. You can cancel or reschedule plans to allow for a gentler life. You can take this life with grief one step at a time. As you do this, invite God into each of the small tasks that will make up your day. Ask him to help you remember where you put your keys (and thank him when you find them!). Pray before you respond to an invitation from a friend. In every basic task of life, God is present and guiding you.