A Christmas Prayer for Grieving Hearts

The holidays are hard when you’re grieving.

While the rest of the world seems excitedly engaged in decking their homes, planning parties, and keeping fun family traditions, it’s hard to fathom a Christmas without your loved one. What used to bring joy — things like making cookies or decorating the tree — now seem hollow. The days are laced with dull pain and constant triggers of the huge loss you’re now navigating. 

In deep grief, God is our comfort. Psalm 34:11 declares that The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve cried out for God to rescue my crushed heart and how His nearness sustained me in my deepest missing.

God’s presence doesn’t take the pain away; God’s presence sustains us in the pain.

The Bible tells us that God is the Father of Compassion and God of all Comfort who comforts us in our troubles. (2 Cor 1:3) If we cry out to God for comfort, it’s a prayer He will always answer. 

So as we face the holidays without the one we love, let’s lift up this Christmas prayer for grieving hearts. It may be a prayer for your own grieving heart or a prayer you lift for someone else walking through grief and loss. 

A Christmas Prayer for Grieving Hearts

Dear Lord, we cry out to you. Where else would we go with our deep loss? Our heart is split open, our pain feels like it’s pulling us under and our spirit is crushed.

You have promised to be close to the brokenhearted and to draw near to us if we will draw near to You. So we come with open hands and wounded hearts, asking You to carry us now when we are too weak to see our way through this grief. We come to You, the only One who can heal us, lift our head and walk us through this dark season into your light and life.

Comfort us as only You can. You know the depth of our sorrow and how many tears we’ve cried. You have counted every one and collected them in a bottle. Wrap us with Your presence and fill the empty spaces of our heart with the length and width and height and depth of Your love for us.

Let us see Your good even on days which feel so far from it. Surprise us with your goodness and open our eyes so that we don’t miss a thing You are doing. We declare this: You are good and You do good.

Lord, even though we don’t understand the circumstances, even though we have questions and even fear for the future, we trust You. Help us to trust You with every fiber of our being and anchor our faith in You alone. Give us Your peace that passes all understanding so that we can rest in Your ways and Your paths. 

Thank You for living hope. Thank You that our hope is alive and well in Jesus. Thank You for heaven, for our true home. Thank You that this suffering is not all there is and that we will have eternity with You. Thank You for taking on flesh and dwelling among us, for taking our pain and bearing our sorrows, so that you might not just know our suffering but so that You could deliver us from it. We praise You and thank You for the gift of eternal life. 

O, Lord, only You know that while the world celebrates with merrymaking and song, we are weighed down with pain. We need to know that it won’t always feel like this and that You have a hope and a future for us. Restore joy to us. Put a new song in our mouth that we might praise You and live out the abundance of life that You’ve promised and secured for us.

God, we have such deep need and we can’t fix it. Sustain us. Carry us. Bring us through. Heal our hearts.

We love You with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind and all of our strength. You are THE gift. Forgive us for putting anything else in that place.

We look to You, we trust You and we adore You. You are our one and only. 

Bind us to You with Your cords of kindness. In the strong and precious name of Jesus our Savior we pray, Amen.

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