Backstory: 

I live every day with a chronic illness and autoimmune disease. This is something that no one really understands unless they go through it themselves. It makes it hard for me to make it through every day with the constant fatigue and pain in my body as well as other frustrating and annoying symptoms. The other day when I was thinking about my chronic illness, I had the words of the song from the musical Les Miserables called Empty Chairs at Empty Tables going through my head. I especially think these words apply to me with my health struggles: “there’s a grief that can’t be spoken, as the pain goes on and on.” 

A Grief That Can’t Be Spoken

Empty chairs are at empty tables when you have a chronic illness

Because you feel like no one really understands the loneliness

Of going through every day with your body having one crazy symptom after another,

You try to let others know how you feel but they really can’t even though they are a sister or a brother.

There’s a grief you have to get used to

And that sometimes will make you feel kinda blue.

Chronic pain is invisible to most people outside of your body,

But you really wish they could walk in your shoes for a minute for them to truly see.

Like the empty chairs, others don’t see what hurts or what is missing

And you constantly wish for a doctor that could to your body be fixing.

Unlike most trials in this life, there is no clear ending to a chronic illness,

So you have to work with that kind of grief which sometimes steals your bliss.

But no trial in this life is ever wasted

Even though for your moments of hope you have patiently waited.

No matter how hard things get day to day,

There is always hope because of your Savior who loves you more than you could ever say.

Only Jesus can truly sympathize with what you are going through,

He knows how you are feeling at every moment and He will always be there for you.

Your grief and pain are never unspoken to Him,

And because of this hope you never need to think that your life is grim.

The Takeaway: We all have hard trials that we have to endure in this life. Our earth life wasn’t meant to be a piece of cake. Sometimes we might feel like we are all alone at a table all by ourselves with nothing but empty chairs around us. But we are never really alone and there is always hope because of our Savior. He has felt all of our pain and heartache. We can always talk to Him and He will understand exactly how we feel.