🌿 When Grief Comes Twice: Learning to Breathe Again

🌿 When Grief Comes Twice: Learning to Breathe Again

I never imagined I’d find myself walking through another valley so soon. Losing my mom felt like the air was knocked out of me all over again. The ache was fresh, familiar, and yet entirely new.

I thought I had learned how to live with grief after losing my daughter, Ciara — but when my mother slipped away so quickly, I realized grief never truly repeats itself; it deepens in new ways.

In those first few days, I felt completely stilled — like time had stopped, my words caught somewhere between disbelief and surrender. I could almost hear Psalm 46:10 whispering to me:

“Be still, and know that I am God. ”Not as a command, but as an invitation — to rest in His presence when I couldn’t make sense of His plan.

Both losses — my daughter and my mother — have become the places where I’ve met God the most intimately. Not because I was strong, but because I was shattered. And somehow, He held every piece.

I’m learning that trusting His plan doesn’t mean understanding it. It means letting His peace fill the cracks where logic fails.

Hope, for me, is now softer. It doesn’t shout. It hums quietly through the tears, reminding me of Romans 8:28 —

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.”

So, I wake up and take it one day at a time. I carry my memories of both my mother and my daughter as light — not as something that burns, but something that gently glows, guiding me toward healing.

Even in loss, I believe God is still weaving beauty through the brokenness. And though I may not see the full picture yet, I trust that His love is still enough to steady me through every storm.

Written by Minister Sharon Leonard

Founder of Grief’s Light Outreach, devoted to helping grieving mothers find comfort, connection, and faith through the journey of loss.