Hi, and welcome to the Five Word Prayers Daily, a five-day-a-week daily devotional where we share the word, prayers, in our heart.

I'm Lisa Whittle, and I welcome you to just five minutes with me, which I trust and pray will be five minutes well spent.

Hi there, friends, so we're in the thick of it already in December, yes?

All in the decorations and parties and holiday prep, I know.

And if you're with me yesterday,

you know this week on the show is dedicated to grieving. I definitely don't want to be a downer for you,

but look, this is a very real thing during the holidays and not just for people who've lost

someone they love. A lot of us grieve things. We grieve a job we just got laid off from, or

our health that isn't good,

or money we don't have to buy gifts this year, or maybe we're lonely over the holidays, and we want

someone to share our life with, or we've been praying for a child we've been longing to adopt,

or we're at odds with our family or empty nesters, and Christmas just isn't the same.

The list can be long over griefs this time of year, and I want to talk

about that today.

When my friend Jennifer was diagnosed with stage three colorectal cancer, I asked her if she

would come onto my blog and tell us all how to respond to someone in her place. I got tired of being scared. I would

say the wrong thing when I was around her to be honest and I wanted her to tell me and tell all

of us at the same time, kind of how to respond. I went back and I found that blog the other day

and the date on it was February of 2011, almost eight years ago. I cannot believe it was that long, and yet it

feels long ago in many ways. It's such a powerful read. I'm linking it in the show notes, and I hope

you'll go in and you'll read it sometime as it really gives insight. But here's the thing. At any given

moment, we're all grieving something. We might not call it grief, but that's what it is. And

...