Hi friends ~
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Five Minute Friday link-up. I’ll just share up front that my personal post this week is not typical for me. I usually try to be positive and uplifting, so if you’re here for the first or second time, please know this is not the norm. 🙂
If you have questions about the link-up and how it works, you can click here to learn more.
This week’s FMF writing prompt is: EXPLAIN
DISCLAIMER: ** Trigger warning **Â
** The following post contains possible trauma triggers. Please discontinue reading if you may be adversely affected.
NOTE TO THE READER (After writing): This was a hard one for me, friends. But this is where I am right now, and I couldn’t bring myself to ignore it by writing about anything else.
Setting my timer for five minutes, and . . . GO.Â
I can explain why my eyes look puffy and swollen this week.
I know exactly why my reflection in the mirror looks hollow, why I keep walking into a room and forgetting why I’m there.
I can explain why I’ve been losing my train of thought mid-sentence and don’t have the energy to finish whatever it was I was trying to say.
I could even come up with a list of external (and internal) circumstances in my friend’s life that directed her toward the edge of this devastating reality.
But even if I try to piece together the stepping stones that led her to that point, that led her to her end, I will never, ever be able to explain why the Lord allowed it to happen.
How could He allow her to reach such an irreversible point of desperation that she would leave us and not return?
I will never understand it.
Four minutes on the clock, but I don’t have anything more to say.
Another note to the reader: Sorry to be such a downer this week, friends. Thank you for your grace and understanding. And if anyone else has experienced a similar loss, my heart goes out to you with a fresh and raw sliver of understanding.
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Join the link-up with your own five-minute freewrite using the blue button below, then visit your link-up neighbor to read their post and leave an encouraging comment:Â
Kate, I am so sorry. Never apologise for being real.
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And some choose to go away,
never to return,
leaving us to curse the day,
leaving us to burn
with thoughts of what we might have said,
grace we might have given
to keep a loved one from the dead,
and still among the living.
But their choice is theirs alone,
and we can’t remotely know
how their flowers now have blown,
never more to grow
among rows of nurturing plants
offering another chance.
Thank you, Andrew, for the encouragement and these helpful and beautiful words.
Kate, I am so sorry for your loss. I’m with Andrew – never apologize for being real. This is a tough one and so sad. I pray God will comfort you and give you strength and peace. Blessings and love to you.
Thank you so much, Gayl. You are a blessing.
I’m so sorry for your loss. I lost two best friends. Their deaths were both unexpected. I remember their words and encouragement even today—many years later. Life can be so hard, because there’s so many losses. I pray that the Lord will mend your heart and give you peace.
Thank you, Gina. You are very kind. I’m so sorry for your losses as well.
Kate, I am so sorry for your loss. I pray God helps you and her other people walk through this painful time holding tightly to Him.
Thank you, Anna. I appreciate you and your kindness!
Peace and comfort to you. And don’t apologize for being honest and vulnerable here. Prayers and love.
Thank you, Arlene! I appreciate that!
I am so sorry for your loss … I have a friend who made the same choice.
It’s really hard … I don’t suppose we will ever know why the Lord allowed cirucmstances to weave together until this kind of loss happens until we meet Him face-to-face.
I know one thing: the Lord loves her.
Thank you so much for that encouragement, Jerri. I’m sorry to hear of your loss as well. So tragic. Grateful for your words.