“Lord, See My Anguish! My Heart Is Broken”: Grieving with Faith after a Major Loss

A sudden death. Divorce. A devastating physical injury. A move that tears us away from beloved community. When we endure a major loss like one of these, we are left in anguish. Where do we go from here when all we feel is unrelenting heartache? How do we move through a loss in ways that honor God but don’t discount the truth of our intense pain? This session delves into questions like these through an exploration of the book of Lamentations, which vividly portrays grief after the fall of Jerusalem and the horror of God’s people cast into exile. We will consider the book redemptive-historically, pondering how Jesus’ own losses and exile gives us hope and a path forward in the midst of our own. It’s a path where we will aim to say, in faith, “The Lord sees my anguish. He is the healer of my broken heart.”