Do you think that prayer can help a person through grief from the loss of a loved one?

I believe prayer can help any situation especially going through times like that

I agree that if the person praying is a believer than comfort will be received. The Lord will lift the burden from you and give you peace. Everyone needs some time for grieving, but praying to your Heavenly Father will give you strength and comfort to get through it. The greatest comfort would come from knowing that the deceased was also a believer.

if you believe in prayer and trust that there is power behind it....of course, remember that belief is quite powerful, what you do after that does make a big difference!!! ciao

Vonda G. Nelson

Most definately. I believe that prayer helps and works, it definately doesn't hurt. When you loose a loved one the grief is terrible, I know, I lost my sister 3 years ago. Your loved one will always be with you as long as you have them in your heart. I even find a quiet place in nature and talk out loud to my sister. Prayer helps heal the grief you are feeling. It is comfort that we seek during grief and what better comfort to have during this time than to be closer to God and our angelic loved ones.

Prayer can definitely help with grief. While praying (what I like to call "talking with God"), we are telling God about what we've been through, how it hurts, how we wish life had been different and how we... keep reading →

I must say that although some may grieve greatly over the passing of a loved one, I would have to disagree that the ones who grieve much more are those who are believers. I have attended many funerals and burial sites as well, and the crowd is often mixed. There are always those who are unbelievers, and those who are.

I would say that the assumption that they all believe simply because they attended the burial is a mistake. I would also add that I have been at closed and open casket funerals. People grieve because they miss the person that is gone. Whether they believe there is an afterlife or not. The intensity of those grieving depends on how expressive and close the person was to the one that is departed. It does not have to do with whether they believe in an afterlife or not.

Further, I would say that those who do believe while they are grieving do recover better, if they are assured of where their departed loved one is going.

I would say that one would have to truly observe them closely afterward to come to a conclusion as to whether they are worse off or better off with or without a belief.

Having lost both parents at an early age, I can attest that I may have grieved a lot at the time, but was also comforted by God at knowing my parents decision for God-this gave me peace and resolution.

I believe that prayer helps. However, nothing but time can sometimes heal that kind of a wound. I saw miracles when my mother was dying and she passed in 2001 and it has taken me until now to get past it but, it something I will never forget it was a very traumatic experience for me. When I talk about it I still cry to this day. My counselor told me to write a good bye letter that it helps I have not tried it yet because, I can not bring myself to that point yet. I do pray all the time for me to get over her loss and I have gotten better but, it still hurts.

I would say that it depends on the angle.

For someone, who is a believer, prayer can be a way to say all the things you realized had gone unsaid until it was too late. It can be a way to talk out your laments that might otherwise be bottled up inside you. (very unhealthy)

It gives you an audience with your god and lets that god carry much of the burden.

If you are referring to the prayers of others I would say that it helps them far more than it helps the one being prayed for.

Of course if you aren't a believer it is pointless either way.

As someone who once worked in a cemetery and saw a lot of grieving it seemed to me that those who were too religious kept the wound open far longer, therefore prolonging the pain.

I will offer this observation The people who had closed casket services were far better off than those who had open caskets. If you hold, as your last image, that person as they were in life you will feel much better than those who's last image is of a corpse in a box. I have seen a lot of dead bodies and not one of them looked like they were peacefully sleeping.

Yes, absolutely. Prayer can do miraculous things when we are in communion with the God of the Universe. I can tell you from personal experience and that of friends, that prayer works. God sees each tear that falls and hears us when we call. Our spirit can be lifted during times of despair or depression. Reading His word and meditating on it and having the faith to believe in it and trust in God is key.