Praying Through Pain: Moving From Grief to Praise a 10 - Day Plan by Kathy-Ann C. Hernandez, Ph.d.Sample

Day 1

When It is Difficult to Pray

Shortly after defending my dissertation, I sat on an American Airlines flight headed to my home country of Trinidad and Tobago. This should have been a happy trip, but it was not. I was traveling home to bury my single-parent father. Since migrating to the United States to pursue graduate studies, I have not been able to visit “Dad” as much as I would like. As the first person in my family to earn a doctoral degree, I was looking forward to celebrating this accomplishment with “Dad.” That celebration would not come.

After the funeral services were completed, it was then that a deep and abiding grief enveloped me for the next several months. Many days I could not drag myself out of bed, and I cried often. I was missing my father. But just below the surface of the tears, the questions began to surface: “God, how can you leave me motherless and fatherless too? Why now? Why would you allow this to happen to me, just so close to sharing this important milestone with ‘Dad’”?

Like me, if you have been on this Christian journey for a while, you have no doubt faced “Why me?” moments. These are moments when we don’t understand why a good God would allow us to suffer so. The pain is real—the hurt is intense. In these times, we may feel like shutting down or maybe even come close to abandoning our faith.

However, when we approach God in prayer, we have been given the privilege to talk to Him like a “Daddy” who is eager to converse with His children. In times of loss, we are best positioned to speak with God from a heart stripped free of the pretense that can get in the way of honest communication. We can express our disappointment, pain, and grief to a father who cares for us and says, “Bring your mess and come.” And we can ask Him earnestly for the answers that we seek.

Reflect

Is there anything troubling you today that you have not talked to God about as you would to a loving father? Take a few minutes to speak to Him about those things today.