The prayer for trauma

A couple of years ago I started the Beth Moore Bible study on the life of John the Beloved disciple. In one of the first few weeks Beth told a heart-wrenching story of a traumatic loss for a family she was close to and she shared the prayer she prays for times of trauma,when you just don't know what to pray. I remember it like this: "Lord, if you don't show up, we will not survive." Sometimes the grief and devastation is too much to bear.

A few days after that Bible study session, Jon and I went into our doctor's office with a list of hopeful questions for our almost eleven week pregnancy. We were so excited to see the baby's sonogram image. But when we saw the image, the baby was so still. No heartbeat. Our doctor was amazingly compassionate. He said and did all the right things. But in that moment, we needed more than anything the ministry of The Great Physician, to pray for us in groans we could not express. I prayed that prayer for trauma. "Lord, if you don't show up, we will not survive. Please show up here." And in the grief filled days and weeks and months that followed, He did. He showed up in astonishing ways at times, unexpected ways, but He showed up. I trust Him more after walking through that time than I trusted Him before. We passed through the waters and we did not drown.

Since that time, we have seen other families walk through similar and much much more difficult traumas and unimaginable grief. I have prayed every time that God would show up for them like He showed up for us, that He would be gracious to them, to rise to show them compassion. Something else I learned from Beth Moore was to place the hard questions in this world right between the bookends of God's love and His sovereignty. We will not always find the answers to why these things happen here, but we can always trust in His love and His sovereignty. This means everything to me.

Tonight I am sharing this with you because I just learned that Ashley in Alabama has passed away. Apparently there were more complications than they knew and she died during surgery. I want to ask you to pray for her family. They have lost so much. How can they stand it unless God shows up? Please pray. I have asked our mutual friend to send me her husband's name and I will share it in a comment of this post when she sends it to me.