How did I get through, honestly? Yes, it was God. No, it wasn’t by my non-existent strength. But what else was at work, behind the scenes, you could say? One answer I have come to—and it is a scary one in a way (I’ll explain more later)—is that I had people praying for me.

I learned about my mom’s death from a text. Like black splinters, the teeny print on my phone screen proclaimed the end of one of the most precious people in my life. I had been expecting the news and wasn’t surprised it came the way it did. It was spring, 2020.

Trusting that someday my joy would return helped carry me through my grief after my twin died.

I want to share a memory that I have never shared with anyone before. It is a memory that I have held close to my heart as a precious treasure for many years.

I have found with all the heartache and hardship in my life that the only way I can keep moving forward and avoid circling into hopelessness and despair is to fix my mind on the promises and truths from God’s Word. Here is the first of these truths that has helped me.

My first experience with the death of a loved one happened when I was twenty-one years old. My twin, Maria, the closest person on earth to me, was killed instantly in a car accident.