Unanswered: Laments in Verse by Ericka Clay - HTML preview

Unanswered: Laments in Verse

I remember reading a novel (based on real events) about women who used to be paid to be mourners in our country, how this tradition had come over from the “old country” and how it was almost a point of pride to wail and shriek for pay.

But what about doing it for free? What about truly feeling those feelings of wrath and sadness and abandonment and confusion and fear? When did we ever start thinking we could stuff them away and hide them where God could never find them?

God’s Word has laid out the blueprint for emotional healing in the artform of lament. It’s a soulful wailing in devastation and despair, the conjuring of all we can’t control.

We can only heal what we acknowledge. We can only let the Lord take dominion over what we willingly submit to Him. And we can submit through the groans of our souls.

So maybe it’s worth not rushing what hurts, and instead, leaning on the One who's suffered everything...us included.

This is a small collection of my own laments written during the time of Lent. I've titled this collection "Unanswered," not because God doesn't answer our prayers but because, sometimes, He allows us to sort out the "why" of it all in the stillness as He continues to make all things new.