"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope." Romans 15:13 (ESV)

In grief, it can become challenging to find joy, peace, and hope. After the death of my son, Joe, in 2008 and my husband, Paul, in 2017, many people would tell me, "you will get through" and "it will get better."

Those words were a way to bring me comfort. However, I just wasn't so sure how I would get through and how it could get better. Have you received comforting words in your grief?

As I write this blog post, those words have stayed with me, and because of this, I would like to take some time today and ask these questions:

Have I been able to get through?

With prayer, love, and support from family and friends, I have been able to get through. It didn't happen overnight and has taken time. I cry when I need to cry. Many people pray for my family and me. I'm so very grateful for their prayers. Do you have people that are praying for you? I want to offer this prayer for you from the Bible in Romans 15:13 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope." (ESV)

Next question:

Has it gotten better?

The truth is life is never the same after losing loved ones. I will always want my son, Joe and, my husband, Paul, to be here. I'm sure you feel the same way about your lost loved ones.

With prayer, God can help us learn to adapt and be resilient. So, to answer the question-has, it gotten better? Life without Joe and Paul is not "better," daily prayer helps to get through. We can pray each day that God will fill each of us with joy, peace, and hope. Our hope is in Jesus; He took our past, present, and future sins to the cross. With this hope, we will have eternal life and see our loved ones again.

Spending time with family and friends can be very beneficial as well.

Let us pray together,

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you that You are the God of hope. We bring to You the grief we have in missing our loved ones.

It can become challenging to find joy, peace, and hope. May the power of the Holy Spirit help us abound in the hope that we can live our lives as You desire for us. Thank you for the hope we have in Your Son Jesus.

In the name of Jesus, we pray,

Amen

Thank you for visiting my small, humble blog.

I would love to hear from you; feel free to comment below or contact me. My contact is on the side-bar of this blog.

With love,

Patty