A Prayer for Comfort in Grief

Father, I am worn thin by sorrow, and I need comfort that goes deeper than words. My body is heavy, my sleep is broken, and the simple act of getting through a day takes everything I have.

Well-meaning people tell me to be strong, but I am out of strength. I do not need to be fixed or hurried. I just need to be held, the way a tired child is held when there is nothing left to say.

So I come to You as that tired child, and I ask You to gather me in. Quiet the noise in my mind. Loosen the knot in my chest. Let me feel, even faintly, that I am not alone in this.

Send me comfort in whatever form I can receive it, a sudden peace, a kind word, an hour of real rest, the sense of Your nearness in the dark.

You promised that those who mourn would be comforted, that You yourself would come close as a mother comforts her child. Comfort me now in exactly that tender way.

I stop striving and let myself be carried. Hold me through this night, and let me wake to mercy. Amen.