Miranda Lambert has a new song out about her great big broken heart. It’s catchy and fun. But living with a broken heart isn’t fun at all, it’s painful. There’s a heaviness to the days when death or loss or illness shadow each hour and each experience. You wake up from a restless sleep and the reality of the truth presents itself once again. The facts are cut and dried, black and white, irreversible.

It’s for times such as these that faith and grace and hope stand ready to spring to life–to come to your rescue. You hurt and then remember your faith in a good, just and loving God. You stumble and realize your need for grace to get through the days. You’re pierced with fear and realize your need to focus on the hope you have. There will be better days. There will be laughter and joy again. There will be freedom from the sadness and the shaking of all that was once familiar. Just not yet.

Be good to yourself. Let people help when they can. And cling to your faith in the One who loves and understands you.