Learn to Breathe Again

When loss first enters our lives, it can feel like the very air has been taken from our lungs. Grief has a way of pressing down so heavily that even the simple act of breathing feels like too much. In those early days, survival becomes the goal—just making it through the next moment, the next hour, the next day. We wonder if we will ever learn to breathe again?

I remember how suffocating grief felt in those first months after my daughter died. My chest literally ached, and I wondered if I would ever be able to draw a deep, unbroken breath again. Every corner of life seemed touched by sorrow. The routines that once came naturally now required unimaginable effort. Even joy—something I once took for granted—felt like a foreign concept.

But slowly, gently, God began teaching me how to breathe again. It didn’t happen all at once. Healing rarely does. It came in small, fragile moments: a laugh I didn’t expect, a peaceful walk in nature, a passage of Scripture that seemed written just for me. Each moment was like a breath of fresh air, filling me with the reminder that grief was not the whole story.

Psalm 23 says that God “restores my soul.” That restoring often comes one breath at a time. Even as the ache remains, God infuses us with His presence—breath after breath, step after step. The same Spirit who breathed life into creation also breathes comfort into our weary hearts.

As we learn to breathe again, it doesn’t mean forgetting the ones we’ve lost. It doesn’t mean the absence no longer hurts. Instead, it means discovering that God can make space for both sorrow and peace within us. It means finding that even when our hearts feel constricted, His love can expand within us, giving us room to live again.

If you are in a season where grief feels suffocating, take courage. One day, you will notice yourself breathing a little easier. One day, the weight won’t press quite as hard. And in that moment, you will recognize that God has been carrying you, teaching you, and sustaining you all along.

Grief may change the rhythm of our breath, but God is the One who helps us inhale hope again.