Revisiting Grief

Today I'll be speaking on Finding Joy in the Mourning at the BYU Life After Loss Conference.

I am humbled to be able to share a few of my experiences and offer hope to others on their grief journey.

One of the things I'll be talking about today is the power of lamenting.

A lament is a prayer expressing sorrow, pain, or confusion.

A prayer for help coming out of pain, honest complaints poured out to God.

 

Lament prayer is designed to persuade God to act on the sufferer’s behalf.

Four steps to a lament prayer:

Turn

Complain

Ask

Trust

I've never been great at the complaining part--until recently.

I assumed to complain was to murmur, and I try to avoid murmuring.

But, to clarify, murmuring is complaining ABOUT God, lamenting is humbly taking your complaint TO God.

When we do that, our all-knowing Father in Heaven listens, loves and helps us through whatever it is that is grieving us.