A Prayer for Sudden Loss

Father, there was no warning. One ordinary moment, and then everything changed, and I am still standing in the wreckage of a day that started like any other. My mind keeps replaying it, refusing to believe it is real.

I never got to say goodbye. There was no slow farewell, no chance to hold on a little longer, just a door slammed shut between one breath and the next. The shock of it has left me numb and reeling.

I bring this disbelief to You, the questions with no answers, the goodbye I never got to say. I do not understand, and right now I cannot. I only know I cannot stand here alone.

Steady me while the ground is still shaking. Hold me together when the full weight of it finally breaks through the numbness. Be my shelter in a storm I never saw coming.

You are a refuge and strength, a very present help when trouble crashes in without warning. Be that present help to me now, in the rawest hours, when nothing makes sense.

I cannot make peace with how it happened, but I cling to You in the chaos. Hold me through the shock, and into whatever comes next. Amen.