God is Still Good, Even When I’m Hurting

On October 15, my family lost a beloved pet. The very next day, I sat down and poured my swirling thoughts into this post. What follows has been edited for clarity and flow, but I stuck as close to the original as possible to preserve the raw emotions of this unsettling event.

Yesterday, I lost my cat.

I’m not going to pretend losing a pet is anything like losing a sibling, parent, or spouse. But it still feels like an arrow in my heart. I’m glad the weather outside is cold and gloomy, because that’s how I feel inside.

Losing Slim was a punch-in-the-gut reminder that this earth is not a comfortable place to live. What God made beautiful and perfect, we’ve destroyed with sin and corrosion. Death is not supposed to be normal. That’s not the way God intended it.

I loved my cat, and I watched him die, all the while wondering what I could have done to stop it from happening. What if I’d paid more attention and gotten him to the vet sooner? Did he enjoy the life he had with us? Did I appreciate him as much as I could have?

Death is the great resurrector of regret.

Facing Loss With Faith: The Struggle to Understand

“My face is red with weeping, dark shadows ring my eyes.”

Job 16:16

I’ve broken down in tears so many times in the past twenty-four hours. While holding him as the life drained from him. While burying him. While doing dishes later and folding clothes. Always telling myself, Why am I so broken up over this? He’s just a cat!

But he wasn’t just a cat. He was a blessing God allowed my family to have to make our life on earth more pleasant. God knows this life isn’t what he first made it to be, and it saddens him, too. So he gives us pleasures like fun and cats and fall days when the leaves are piling high. He gives us the ability to enjoy little things. 

We cling to those things, then cry foul when they’re taken away. I prayed all day long for a miraculous healing. After all, bodies are resilient. I’ve read the stories where someone on the throes of death pulls through. It happens with animals, it happens with people. 

But it didn’t happen for Slim.

After he passed, I wasn’t left questioning God’s existence, or even his goodness. For me, that isn’t the issue. The big question losing my cat raised for me was, why do things have to change? Why does death come knocking when everything is going so well? When we’re happy and content, why do troubles hit, toppling the whole shebang like a house of cards? Why can’t anything stay the same?

Why can’t I enjoy the pleasure of loving my most playful cat to the full possible extent of his feline life?

The Lord Gives, The Lord Takes

“The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

Job 1:21

Unfortunately, change is constant. Nothing and no one lasts forever. Last decade’s booming business is this decade’s smoldering fire. The friends you thought you’d always have move away after high school and you only see them on Facebook. Your cross-country season ends with a torn Achilles. 

Your cat dies.

It hit me how helpless I am to turn back time. Sometimes, you get a second chance to make something right, but in this case, there’s nothing I can do to undo it. I lost something I loved, and I can’t have it back no matter how much I hope, beg, and pray. I saw him go into the grave. He’s not coming back. 

It’s a reminder that I am not God.

God is Still Good, Even When I’m Hurting

If you’re facing loss, whether it be something as small as a beloved pet or as big as a beloved friend, this is your comfort. It might take a while for things to feel okay again. Don’t think that just because he hasn’t flooded you with sudden peace, he’s not listening. He’s there, and he’s holding your hand, walking you through the valley of tears to a place where there will be no more death, loss, decay, corruption, corrosion, or change. The tears there will be tears of joy. You’ll settle into your heavenly home without worrying about someone snatching it out from under you. 

So hang on, your life in this broken world is temporary. God is still good, even when you’re sobbing buckets of tears. Mourn your losses, then turn your face toward Jesus and let him comfort you with his unchanging, incomparable, amazing grace.

Rest in peace, Slim. Come, Lord Jesus.

If You Are Facing Loss

If you are facing loss, no matter the nature—even if it’s the loss of a dream rather than the loss of a loved one—know that it’s okay to grieve. Go ahead, cry your eyes out and scream. Then check out these resources about facing loss with faith.

Resources for Christian Teens Facing Loss

• Jesus Defeated Death—And Now You Will Too: Be reminded of your resurrection hope.
• Where to Look in Scripture During Your Darkest Nights: Bible verses for those struggling through difficult times.
• Look Forward to Eternity: The Best Is Yet To Come: This life is not the best you’ll ever have. See why you can look forward to heaven.

Comforting Bible Verses For Grief & Loss

These comforting Bible verses focus on remembering that God is still good despite your current pain.

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

Psalm 34:8

I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Psalm 27:13

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Psalm 107:1

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 

Hebrews 10:23

No one understood loss better than Job. Check out his story in the Bible.