Your Sorrow Doesn’t Unsettle God - Encouragement for Today - June 5, 2026

Encouragement for Today

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Crosswalk.com

Lisa Appello June 5, 2026

Your Sorrow Doesn’t Unsettle God
LISA APPELO

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Psalm 139:13-14a (ESV)

“I just want a checklist,” my friend said to me over coffee. She was new to grief, and a checklist felt like a secure road map through the convoluted maze of emotions.

I wish it were that simple, I thought, reflecting on my own grief.

If only the emotions of grief were a tidy series of tasks we could schedule and check off as we completed each step. In reality, it’s a messy mix of intense and conflicting emotions: sadness, despair, love, loneliness, anger, emptiness, guilt, fear, gratitude, disbelief, longing, and more.

I wanted the quickest and straightest path through grief but found myself cycling through the same feelings. It seemed at times that I’d move forward, only to take steps back. The hard emotions felt like they were crushing me from the inside out. They exhausted me, sapping my mental, emotional, and physical capacity. I questioned whether my experience was normal. Is it OK to feel like this? Shouldn’t I be doing better by now?

The difficult emotions in grief unsettle and surprise us, but they don’t unsettle or surprise God. God designed us with emotion. Psalm 139:13-14a says, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” The Hebrew word for “inward parts” refers to the seat of our emotions — a core place within us.

Our emotions were not only God’s idea but God’s very good idea.

Our God-given emotions, then, are a gift, not a curse. Living life without emotions would be like eating dinner but never tasting it. Emotions help us both savor the beauty in our world and process its pain.

But how do we manage emotions too heavy for us to carry? Instead of a checklist, God gives us lament. Lament is taking our hard emotions to God and receiving His comfort as we trust His faithfulness.

Our raw emotions are not only safe with God but safest with God. We don’t have to suppress, rush through, or escape from our feelings.

It’s OK not to feel OK. It’s also OK to have days in grief where we feel good. We are allowed to have big, heart-rending cries and deep, heart-mending laughs. It’s normal to long for the one you dearly miss after loss, and it's normal to go through a whole busy day, thinking about them only when your head hits the pillow.

Friend, God welcomes every brutal, honest, white-knuckled, heavy emotion. Instead of handing us a checklist to work our way through grief, God gives us Himself. He who made us fearfully and wonderfully knows best how to care for us tenderly in our pain.

Dear God, my heartache and feelings are nearly crushing me, and I want to work through them to move forward. I give You my pain and every hard emotion too heavy for me to carry, and I take Your comfort as You walk me through this. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

OUR FAVORITE THINGS

The way through grief isn’t a method or formula but a person: the God of comfort. Preorder Lisa’s new book, God of Comfort: A Devotional Journal for the Grieving Heart, to work through your grief gently and honestly with God.

ENGAGE

Get more hope and healing through loss with Lisa’s free guide “7 Days of Hope for Your Shattered Heart,” and connect with her on Instagram for near-daily inspiration!

FOR DEEPER STUDY

Psalm 31:9, “Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and body with grief” (NIV).

Psalm 31:14-16, “But I trust in you, LORD … save me in your unfailing love” (NIV).

The biblical psalmists often took their raw emotions to God with trust, showing us how to lament. What heavy emotions are you carrying right now that you can bring to God? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.

Proverbs 31 Ministries
P.O. Box 3189
Matthews, NC 28106
www.Proverbs31.org