As grief wells up is a part of a quote from my book Hope for the Hard Days, and I’m pondering it with you today.

For Lent 2025, I’ll be writing new blog posts every day. I’m writing for just five unedited minutes on a quote of the day to deepen our faith in this Lenten season.

Day 46 of Lent 2025 – April 19

I’m using my own books for quotes this final week of the Lenten season. This quote is from the chapter called The Second Round of Grief in Hope for the Hard Days.

Here is the quote in context:

The difference between the second round of grief and the first is that I have the advantage of seeing it coming…

One thing I’m doing on this second round of grief is inviting Jesus into each moment with me. I envision him standing beside me back in that first round, when grief suddenly crashed into me like tsunami waves. He was right there, holding me when I felt his presence and especially when I didn’t feel his arms around me.

The second time around, Jesus and I will be standing there together, watching the original scene. I’ll see him standing there with me the first time and feel him standing beside me the second time too. He’ll embrace me as grief wells up, and as it ebbs away.

Though my knowledge of the situation the second time around increases my grief for a moment, he will be offering grace in heavenly abundance to me.

This Easter weekend, you might be dealing with grief. Perhaps it’s another round of grief from something you lost before. I encourage you to spend some private time with the Lord, grieving what happened to you. I hope that what I’ve shared above about inviting Jesus into that moment with you will be helpful.

In Hope for the Hard Days, I often write about grief. It has been an enormous challenge for me to choose hope amid all the grief I’ve faced. However, with God’s help, that has been possible. That’s why I wrote the book – to encourage you to find even just a bit of hope for the hard days. If your hard day happens to fall on Easter this year, I pray my book will encourage you.

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Join me again tomorrow for another reflection on a different quote.

Find all my additional resources for Lent on this page.

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