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When We Walk Through Grief, God Walks With Us

When We Walk Through Grief, God Walks With Us

Last updated on: October 12, 2026 at 3:49 pm by Michele Howe

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When We Walk Through Grief, God Walks With Us 2026-10-12T15:49:05-05:00 Michele Howe

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When In Grief - Trust And Obey

When In Grief – Trust And Obey

Be still and know that I am God.

Psalm 46: 10

I have difficulty sitting down and being quiet. When a problem erupts in my life, I want to take action! I want to DO something – anything – but be still.

Linda Dillow

The first quarter of 2021, began in the same way that 2020 had ended. Busy. Busy. Busy. Life was setting a brisk pace for me and my husband and adult children. I recall the early months of 2020’s as ones that were uncharacteristically hectic and demanding. When spring arrived and my schedule showed no signs of slowing, I remember telling my husband that I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep working at this pace much longer. I truly felt like that age-old cartoon of a hamster running around and around on a stationary wheel. Going ever faster but getting nowhere at all. Something needed to change. And God made sure it did.

God Sees What Is Coming We Do Not

By the end of May, I was still maintaining a crazy-hectic schedule and in my defense, some of what I was dealing with was not, “a mess of my making,” so to speak. Rather, the early months of summer brought our entire family into more than one ER type scenarios that only added to my stress level. Something needed to change. And God made sure it did.

In a matter of a single week, my forty-plus years of freelancing as a book reviewer for two magazines abruptly ceased. As a freelance writer/reviewer/author, I’ve had to occasionally pursue work assignments off and on through the years. However, these two long-term assignments were my steady income sources that I counted on, perhaps even took for granted, and lived with as part of my day-to-day work existence. So when both ended at the same time, I felt myself unmoored, a bit grief-stricken, and more than a little shocked.

There Are Times When We Must Simply Stop

The best way to describe what I was feeling was career grief. I soon recognized that much of my identity was wrapped up in my work. I was a reviewer. It wasn’t just something I did. Per my usual response to any unwanted changes in my life, I began putting out the word to editors, colleagues, and magazines I had written for in the past that I was looking for work to replace those freelance positions I had lost. In the midst of my job-hunting, I sensed God telling me to stop working so hard at trying to find new work.

My inner response to this nudging was to question how that, “ceasing striving and be still,” modus operandus made any sense at all. I was a full time reviewer, had been and always would be. End of story. Of course, when new reviewing doors weren’t opening, I had to start listening more intently to what God was trying to teach me.

God’s Plan Is Always Perfect – Always

Over the weeks that eventually led to months, my heart stopped grieving, began healing, and I felt God was teaching me that this whole sudden change in work status was his way of forcing me to be still. For my own good. I realized after the initial sting wore off that given my lifelong track record and my personality, I would never have willingly given up those freelance assignments. God had to take them from me for my good. And so God made sure he did.

* * *

I wonder how many of us have experienced the nudging in our hearts and minds from God that something needed to change in our lives but we quickly hush it away. Change is hard. Even change that does a good work within us. Change is unsettling. Even change that forces us to cling all the more tightly to the Lord. Change is uncomfortable. Even change that brings us to a place of greater maturity and grace.

Looking back, I remember one particularly puzzling afternoon when I was feeling angry and anxious about losing my work assignments. I felt such angst in my soul. I wanted to stop being upset about matters that were beyond my control. As I prayed for God to just do what he wanted to do with me and teach me whatever lesson I needed to learn so I could get on with my life; I sensed God telling me that the process is part of the healing. Hmm.

Trust And Obey – For There Is No Other Way

The process is part of the healing? So that meant all the emotions, the lack of writing work, even the inner puzzling over these strange circumstances were part of the entirety of what God wanted me to experience and learn? I thought and I prayed some more asking God for the wisdom to see all that had transpired more clearly. I went back to scripture verses that confirmed what I already knew – that God loved me, wanted only what was best for me. He wanted me to trust him even though I didn’t understand. God wanted me to believe he would provide for my needs. Perhaps most of all, I needed to be fine with, “being still and knowing He is God.” And I did. Something needed to change. And God made sure it did. Praise him!

Take-away Action Thought

When I am faced with an unwanted or unsettling change in my life, I will resist every urge I have to frantically attempt to take control of the situation. Instead, I will discipline myself to sit quietly before the Lord so that he can speak his comforting truth into my heart and mind.

My Heart’s Cry to You, O Lord,

Father, You already know what my first response is going to be given any circumstance. My heart and mind struggle to slow down, be calm, and be still in your presence. But that is exactly what I need most. My urgent and habitual rush to change a circumstance or take control of an unwanted situation is not the most pressing need I have. Help me to discipline myself to sit down and quietly wait for you to communicate your eternal truth to my heart and mind. Nothing that happens to me is a surprise to you. Absolutely nothing. Give me your divine wisdom to know how to proceed when the time comes. But until I have peace within me, I must be still and know that you are God. Amen.

Faith Steps

My first and best reaction to receiving difficult news will be to grab my bible and my journal and to begin writing out scripture verses that bring me specific comfort in the face of unwanted change.
I will spend time at least twice a day (morning and evening) meditating on the verses I have selected so that they are never far from my thoughts.
I will pray these verses back to God with the confidence that he never makes a promise he will not keep. I will share my fears, anxieties, and worries, with another friend and ask that person to keep me accountable as I work through my struggles over these changes.

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About Michele Howe

Michele Howe is the author of 31 books for women, children, and families. She has published over 3000 articles, reviews, and curricula. Her newest release, Brave Faith for Hard Things, guides readers to a deeper walk with the Lord during their hardest, most painful life seasons. You can read more about the author here.

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