The barbwires have tightened and tore through the heart, leaving a feeling of hollowness where home was once felt. I fill the gaps with God, for he is greater than whoever left behind the void. I fill the gaps with God, for he is greater than the something that was lost and the nothing that rests in its place. I fill the gaps with God, for a worldly loss points not to that which was lost, but to he who created all that can be gained and lost.

For each narrative that takes place, I leave upon it seeds of praise so that mourning may be replaced with dancing and so that I may dance through my mourning. The sorrowful sobs and streaming tears are laid upon him who had set eternity in my heart, so that the temporal that I am and the eternal that he is may meet in the moment of sorrow with reconciliation. I lay before him a burden far too heavy for me to carry, for his yoke is easy and his burden light.

I walk with a right hand held by the eternal so that I may not fear, for I am the blessed mourning who seeks the comfort promised. I have lost the world countless times, and with each loss, I have gained him who has overcome the world. Lord, let my sorrow bring me closer to you, for I have yet again lost all belonging to the world. Let my bitterness be cleansed in the blood of the Son with love that endures all things in patience.

The barbwires tug at the edges of the void within with pulses of pain, Lord. My soul weeps for the loss of my beloved, yet it is you who I seek to call. My name is engraved on the palm of your hand, Lord; See the pain that my name carries and let your name come to my heart before mine, so that I may be anchored in your love and not in my sorrows of past. Lift up your banner in my soul so that all I see is your eternal glory and not my temporal sorrow.

My heart yearns for my beloved, Lord; let the tethers of my heart be tied to your name, so that I may find the stillness in which you are exalted. My mind runs amok with narratives of why, how, and what if; let my fixation be on your Son so that I may live not a life of regretful speculation, but of hope for all things and belief in all things. I walk through the familiar depths of sorrow in which I find myself with a renewed heart in your Son, free of the thoughts of death that once plagued me; let me be steadfast in my walk so that my heart illuminates the way not by might nor by power, but by your Spirit.

You have declared that you will restore me to health and heal all my wounds; Liberate me from the wounds of the past that weigh me down and distort my views with outdated instincts. You have protected me from trouble and surrounded me with songs of deliverance, Lord. I know you will never leave me nor forsake me. Let my heart be confident and free of fear, for you are my helper. Release the blades that tear through my being and let the shards of this broken self be mended in your light, Lord.

In Jesus' name, Amen.