I know all of us have experienced losing something or someone. And with loss of something that we highly value comes grief, sorrow, feelings of having no direction in life. I had my own share of loss which I would like to share here, which hopefully can help and inspire you reader.

It was March 15, 2011, when the place we and my family were staying in got burned. I’m from the Philippines and I was 17 that time, with me are my mom, dad and younger brother. I was in school when I received the news after taking an exam, so I hastily went home, although it took me an hour to commute going home, imagine the anxiety and wailing I went through as I travel home. As I approach quite a distance from the place, I can already see the ball of smokes bulging through the air. Finally when I got there, I saw that nothing’s left. What was left was only my mom’s gold wedding ring. But I am grateful that there were no casualties because not only our apartment was affected but also the other apartments in that row. It has become literally true that things were tested through fire, and so is my hope. The moment that loss dawned to me, I really do not know where to pick up the pieces because there’s nothing to pick up anymore in the first place.

We may have lost all our tangible things, and boy it’s not easy even if I consider myself and not materialistic, there was nothing to grasp except what I brought with me in school, I apparently loss weight because of course I lost appetite, there were sleepless nights, felt really sad because definitely we cannot pull off a debut (it’s a big thing here in the Philippines) for my 18th, I was anxious that people might think it’s because of my irresponsibility why the incident happened because the sudden blow of fire started in our apartment (but it was confirmed that it was due to faulty wiring, thank God), I feared my future, that what if I cannot enroll next year, hence I will be delayed and all that…

BUT… but…I realized through that incident that the intangible is what matters most. Love remained. And that is much more than enough. It was seen and felt and resonated through the hearts and hands of the people who were more than willing to help us get by gradually. God’s comfort and provision never left us. He allowed us to get a new home that’s a lot better and safer several months after. What were loss were slowly replaced by beautiful pieces altogether. In retrospect, we are grateful for everything that happened. It allowed love to be made manifest in so many ways, through so many people and all these happened through His sovereign grace. I can say that God has been and ever will be my rock and my fortress and He reminded me that no matter what loss I may experience in this world, He will always be my gain even beyond this lifetime.

If you, at this very moment, experience loss especially in such a time as this; this pandemic has made a lot of people lose loved ones, jobs and even hope, know that you’re not alone. I feel you. I also lost a lot of people in my life. It’s devastating, but with the help of the people around you and our Creator, you can also get by, slowly, day by day, and eventually you’ll get to a point where you’ll be grateful even for the pain because in our loss, we gain seeing and experiencing love at its fullest. Thank you for reading this and remember that you are loved.