Anniversary of Loss

Father God, today marks the day my life changed forever. It has been [days / months / years] since they left — and some days it feels like yesterday, and some days it feels like a lifetime. Time doesn't heal the way people say it will. It just makes the grief different.

I remember today. I remember the call. The hospital room. The moment I knew. I remember the numbness and the disbelief. I remember the funeral and the faces and the flowers. I remember all of it.

But I also remember their life. Their laugh. The way they made me feel. The things they taught me. The legacy they left in me that can never be erased.

Lord, be with me today. If the grief is sharp, hold me. If it has softened, let me receive that grace without guilt. Help me to find a way to honor this day — whether through tears, through ritual, through gathering with others who also remember, or through quiet solitude.

I trust that death is not the end of their story — or mine. Resurrection is coming. Reunion is promised. And until that day, I will carry their memory, and You will carry me.

In Jesus' name, Amen.