God in the Grief: How Emotional Pain Can Lead You Deeper Into God’s Presence

Emotional pain, grief, and spiritual suffering can leave us feeling isolated and unseen. In seasons of heartbreak, anxiety, or uncertainty, it’s easy to wonder where God is in the pain. But what if your suffering isn’t meaningless? What if your pain is actually an invitation to healing, spiritual growth, and a deeper relationship with God? In your hardest moments it might be the very place where God begins something new.

When Pain Becomes an Invitation

Emotional pain has a way of making us feel isolated, doesn’t it? We often struggle in silence, believing no one truly understands our grief. But what if your pain isn’t just something to endure—what if it’s an invitation to something deeper? An invitation into God’s presence, into healing, and into spiritual growth.

If you’re walking through a painful season right now, this idea might feel hard to accept. But let me share the story that changed my perspective—how God met me in my pain, offered me comfort, and began a process of inner restoration I never expected.

It was November, just around the first week after my latest head injury. I was sitting on my bed, overwhelmed with emotions I couldn’t quite process. The outcome from my injury wasn't good and was discouraging, but it was the fear that really held me captive. Fear of the unknown. Fear of my health. Fear of what my future might look like.

In 2021, one of my doctors told me that my brain couldn't handle getting another head injury. And here I was, facing injury number ten. While sitting on my bed I was trying to find the words to express to God how terrified I was about my health.

As I was crying out to him, I realized I needed to make a declaration of my faith to God. I had to remind myself that no matter how scary things were, I was going to trust Him and that I wouldn't walk away from Him.

After I wrote those words of faith in my journal, I started crying again. But this time, I wasn’t just scared—I was overwhelmed with grief. Pain. Sadness. Yes, within my spirit, I felt a surety in who my God is, but it didn't take away the pain.

If you’re going through grief, I want to share what God spoke over me during that time. But before I do, let me give you some background.

Breaking Lies About Emotions

At the end of 2021, I started counseling. And through that journey, one of the biggest challenges I faced was my view of emotions for myself. I had a deeply negative perspective about sadness, anger and grief. I often felt weak when I cried and believed that I wasn’t “the perfect believer” if I was sad or had grief. Even though I wouldn’t judge anyone else for expressing their pain, I believed for myself, that I was a failure when I did.

Since then, I’ve been unlearning these false beliefs for myself. I’ve been working on embracing the truth of who God is and how He feels about our emotions.

So, When God spoke to me in that moment, His tender words hit me in a way I’d never experienced before. And I’m praying they bring the same breakthrough for you as they did me.

Emotions as an Invitation to God

I had prayed, asking God to take my sadness, my grief and my fear away. I wanted the pain to stop. But instead, God replied in a way that truly changed my heart.

He said:

"My truth doesn't always erase the pain. It may ease it, but the pain can still be present."

Then, God said something that I will never forget:

“Your pain, your fear, your anxieties—these are an invitation from you to Me.”

In that moment, God made the connection from what I knew to be true, to what I believed in my heart to be true.

I wasn’t meant to run away from my emotions or even to submit to them. My pain was actually an invitation to draw closer to God. To invite Him into my suffering, my grief, and my fears. We get to choose whether we will invite God into our pain. To suffer with us. To grieve with us. To mourn with us. All He asks is that we invite Him into that space.

Pain doesn’t mean God is absent. Pain does not mean God’s assurance isn't true. Pain and peace can coexist. While God can heal pain, sometimes, God doesn’t erase our suffering, but He invites us to come to Him in the middle of it.

When we invite God into our pain, He becomes our comforter, our healer, our strength, our sustainer. He holds us the way a loving parent would hold their hurting child, tenderly, lovingly and patiently.

Permission to Grieve

For me, this revelation made my pain almost sweet. I know that sounds strange, but the truth is, what the Spirit of God does in us often doesn’t make sense from a human perspective.

But in that moment, I had permission to grieve and I hadn't realized that I needed that from the Lord. It was okay to be sad, to mourn, to feel everything I was feeling.

In that space, I could grieve my health, the physical limitations I was currently facing, and the loss of plans I had thought the Lord was leading me in. I could mourn what I thought my future would look like and accept that the path was different from what I imagined. But I also knew that this space wasn’t meant to be permanent.

While God creates this safe space for us to grieve, it’s not a place for us to stay forever. The point isn’t to remain in this pain indefinitely. The space is meant to comfort us, heal us, and strengthen us so that we can stand back up and keep moving forward.

No matter how many times you need to step into this space with God, He will always be there to comfort you, to strengthen you, to sustain you. And then, He’ll help you rise again, ready to move forward in His strength.

God Is Waiting for You in Your Pain

If you're struggling right now, I want you to know I understand. If your heart aches from the pain you’re facing or the loss you’ve experienced, I get it. If you're angry with God for allowing these hard things to happen, you are not alone.

But I want you to know that God is calling you into a space. He’s inviting you to bring your pain, your grief, your confusion, and all your emotions to Him. He’s asking you to invite Him into that space so that He can hold you, heal you, and comfort you.

And remember, this space isn’t where you’ll stay forever.

Psalms 34

I will extol the Lord at all times;

his praise will always be on my lips.

I will glory in the Lord;

let the afflicted hear and rejoice.

Glorify the Lord with me;

let us exalt his name together.

I sought the Lord, and he answered me;

he delivered me from all my fears.

Those who look to him are radiant;

their faces are never covered with shame.

This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;

he saved him out of all his troubles.

The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,

and he delivers them.

Taste and see that the Lord is good;

blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

Fear the Lord, you his holy people,

for those who fear him lack nothing.

The lions may grow weak and hungry,

but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

Come, my children, listen to me;

I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

Whoever of you loves life

and desires to see many good days,

keep your tongue from evil

and your lips from telling lies.

Turn from evil and do good;

seek peace and pursue it.

The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,

and his ears are attentive to their cry;

but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil,

to blot out their name from the earth.

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;

he delivers them from all their troubles.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted

and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

The righteous person may have many troubles,

but the Lord delivers him from them all;

he protects all his bones,

not one of them will be broken.

Evil will slay the wicked;

the foes of the righteous will be condemned.

The Lord will rescue his servants;

no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

Praying over all those who read this

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Remember you are so loved, valued, and cherished.