When Sorrow Comes in Like a Flood
- Maggie Wallem Rowe
- Jul 7
- 4 min read
HOW DO YOU HOLD ONTO HOPE WHEN IT’S BEEN WASHED AWAY?
AUDIO LETTER
I had other news planned for today’s letter, but like you, my heart is lodged with those families in Texas.
As I write, the death toll from the July 4 flash floods has topped 100, nearly as many victims as we mourned here in western North Carolina just 10 months ago. 27 of those who perished in the Lone Star state were young girls and staff from a Christian camp. I’ve also just returned from a week at our annual Rowe Family Camp near Wheeling, WV—an area reeling from its own flood fatalities.
As I’ve struggled to find words, I read a post from my good friend Barb Roose, the author of many Bible studies (Stronger Than Stress, Surrendered, Joshua: Winning the Worry Battle) that have strengthened my own faith walk.
“Our hearts are gutted as we’ve watched the unfolding tragedy in Texas,” Barb writes. “How do we go about our daily business with so much fresh heartache?”
With Barb’s permission, I’m sharing a portion of her thoughts with you.
“ 1. Don’t Stop Praying
There’s so much we’ll never understand in this life. But here’s one thing I know for sure: life gets even harder when we’re disconnected from God.
Psalm 34:18 reminds us that “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.” When we feel crushed by grief or confusion, His nearness brings comfort, even if we still have unanswered questions.
You may be struggling to pray right now. Maybe you're out of words—or too angry to pray. That’s not wrong or shameful. God invites us to bring our raw, unfiltered emotions to Him. That’s what lament is. Lament is a form of prayer that expresses our pain, grief, and even outrage.
You’re not alone if you’ve prayed anything like this:
God, why did You let those little girls die?
God, my family is falling apart—I’ve begged You for help!
God, the world feels like it’s unraveling. Please do something!
Can we pray to God in this manner? Yes. God can take it. It's so much better for us spiritually to bring our confusion or anger to God than to walk away from God with our confusion and anger. That never ends well for us.
If you grew up in a faith tradition where prayers of anger or disappointment were discouraged, know that the Bible is full of those types of loud, passionate, messy prayers. Think of Hannah. Job. Moses. Elijah. The book of Lamentations. Their honest prayers were raw, gut-level, and honest. As they lamented, God reminded them of who He is: faithful, merciful, sovereign, and good. God reminds us of this too, even if we can’t always understand His ways.
Finally, as you pray, don’t be surprised if someone else’s tragedy stirs up your own unresolved pain or grief. If that happens, keep a journal nearby and be open to what God might want to surface and heal in your heart.
2. Take Care of You
When other people are suffering, you can worry yourself sick about it. This is called empathetic distress. It’s not good or bad, it is a signal on your wellness dashboard. Empathic distress may show up as anxiety, sadness, hopelessness, or physical exhaustion. Don’t ignore your body’s effort to get your attention.
If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed when you watch the news or you’ve read one too many sad social media posts, it’s time to take a break. Please spend some time doing the following:
Take a Deep Breathe – Yes, we can actually “care” ourselves into physical sickness. One of the simplest, God-designed tools for regulating our stress is breath. Try my CALM technique:
Inhale
Exhale slowly while whispering “Mississippi”
Repeat this for a count of 10
Breathe Away Worry – To calm your mind, shift your focus through breath prayers—short prayers synchronized with your breathing. Here’s one I’m using this week:
Inhale: God is close to those who are hurting
Exhale: I trust Him to help them.”
Dear friends, my prayer for you this week is to keep praying and take care of yourselves. God can and will care of those who are hurting, not just in Texas, but wherever people are calling out for Him. May these words provide you with a little exhale so you can process the heaviness from the tragedy.”
In his liturgy for those grieving a death due to natural disaster, author Douglas McKelvey (Every Moment Holy), writes that even as these victims were overwhelmed in body, so we too are “overwhelmed in mind and heart, and [we] cannot make sense of this terrible mystery. . . O God, would you sing into [our] sorrow that same eternal song of resurrected hope?”
We struggle, but still we sing.
We sing.
Holding you close,
Maggie
IT’S YOUR TURN. Let’s help each other out here. When you’ve experienced times of grief and loss, what has helped you cope?