Loss is terribly painful. The grief journey can be very challenging – especially over the holiday season.

Thanksgiving is behind us. Christmas looms ahead. Someone is missing. This hurts.

And it’s lonely. Terribly lonely.

How do we do this?

Here’s a Grief Affirmation:

I feel so alone sometimes. I will give myself permission to grieve during this holiday season.

The holiday season is hard for grieving hearts.

Families are getting together. Memories and potential triggers are everywhere.

While the world appears to be celebrating, it’s like we’re on the outside looking in. And what we see often hurts.

We already feel alone. The Christmas season can intensify our loneliness.

One of the most well-known Old Testament prophecies about the coming Messiah is found in Isaiah 7:14: 

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Roughly 700 years after this prophecy was written, Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, the Creator of all things, was born in Bethlehem. Immanuel.

Immanuel means “God with us.”

He became one of us, while remaining fully God. He lived a perfect, sinless life amid this broken, fallen, sin-infested, evil-ridden world. He went to the cross. He conquered death.

He comes and knocks on our hearts. He lives in those who trust Him. We are in Him, and He is in us. Jesus Christ, Immanuel, God with us.

He shares our loneliness. He knows. He feels our grief. He carries our sorrows.

Immanuel. God with us. God with you.

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). (Matthew 1:22-23)

Lord Jesus, Immanuel, I give my loneliness to You. You thought to me, wanted me, and created me. You died and rose from the dead for me. You live in me. As I grieve, I will remember that I am never alone. I choose to rest in You. In Jesus’ name…

Be kind to yourself today.