I’d never been through that kind of pain. It took my breath away from the inside out, leaving me hollow and empty, gasping for air and answers.

Grief does not always ask permission before it returns. It can come back around when we least expect it, not because we have failed to heal, but because love does not disappear just because someone is gone.

Freedom began when I stopped asking only who hurt me and started asking God what he wanted to heal in me.