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4 Prayers for the Death of a Pet
- Jessica Brodie Award-winning Christian Novelist and Journalist
- Published Oct 02, 2024
I lost my cat Teetee the week before COVID-19 hit, and her death shattered me and my family.
At 17, Teetee had been with me longer than my kids had been alive and seen me through six moves and a myriad of other life changes. She sat by my side as I wrote and edited an entire novel and comforted me during the depths of heartache and despair. Her loss felt like the end of an era, and I found myself in the fetal position sobbing what felt like bucketloads of tears for her. I missed her sweet, intuitive cuddles, her gaze that seemed both patient and wise, and the way she’d let my kids do almost anything to her. Memories of the many times my daughter had pushed her around her bedroom in a plastic kiddie shopping cart made me giggle and also long for her desperately.
Even worse was how hard my kids took it, especially our youngest daughter.
Many of us have deep feelings of love for a beloved pet and form bonds with them as close as we would with any human being. Their loss is palpable and devastating, and the grief we feel doesn’t just go away because they happen to have scales or fur instead of skin.
God knows our anguish and our pain, and he longs to hear from us and comfort us in our time of sorrow.
One of the best ways we can deal with our pain is by bringing those feelings to the Lord, laying them down at his feet in surrender and sadness.
Here, then, are four heartfelt prayers for the death of a pet.
A Prayer When You Feel Heartbroken
Heavenly Father,
I am heartbroken over the loss of my pet. I can’t even put my pain into words. Some days I think it’s silly, getting so upset for what some might say “is just an animal.” But to me, my pet is more than an animal but a true and treasured friend. You know this, Lord, and you know how deep this loss cuts. You know how much I miss my pet, miss all their sweet and funny ways and the pure and simple comfort they brought me just by being there. In truth, Lord, their love reminded me of the love I share with you, and it’s no less of a love because we are a different species.
Help me, Lord, to remember all the good times we shared and to take comfort knowing my animal friend is not in pain but has returned to you, their perfect Creator.
Help me to remember how Jesus reacted when his friend, Lazarus, died — how he wept and cried out to you — and know I can do the same over the loss of my own friend.
The mysteries of true friendship are rooted in love, and I loved my precious sweet animal friend.
Psalm 34:18 reminds us, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Be with me, Lord. Hold me close and help me in the depths of my pain, I beg you.
Amen.
A Prayer about Loneliness
Father God,
I’m so incredibly lonely now that my pet is gone. They seemed to understand me on a level few others can, and now they’re gone, and I’m alone. My heart aches to feel that comfort again, to gaze into their adoring eyes and hold them close.
I despair at ever feeling this way again. My pet’s love was a source of strength and consolation, a refuge in this difficult and often-chaotic world, and I don’t know how to move past it.
One things I do know is that you are with me, and you know me even deeper and more intimately than my beloved pet ever could.
As Psalm 139:1-5 affirms, “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.”
Hem me in behind and before, Lord, with your comforting arms of all-knowing and all-perfect love. I know you understand my pain and the desires of my heart, Lord.
Bring me peace and comfort in my deep grief.
Amen.
A Prayer When You Feel Alone in Your Grief
Dear God,
Sometimes I feel so alone in my grief. No one else seems to feel the loss of my beloved pet like I do. No one else but me seems to feel haunted by their memory, left longing for the old days. I am in deep and painful mourning, and well-meaning platitudes or encouragement from others falls flat.
Help me remember that as much as I mourn their loss, you love them as much as I do. In fact, your love far exceeds my own, for you created them. Just as Psalm 139:13 reminds me that you “created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb,” you made all things — all human beings, all the trees and plants, and every single animal that roams upon the earth, in the air, or in the waters. You know and you love my animal friend even more than I do, as difficult as that is to imagine.
As Job acknowledged in your Holy Word, “But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind” (Job 12:7-10).
Help me remember that my beloved pet is held firmly in your hand, as am I. Thank you, my precious Lord.
Amen.
A Prayer of Gratitude
Holy Lord,
Today I am feeling so incredibly grateful for the beautiful life and spirit of my sweet animal friend, a life and spirit you entrusted to me to care for and nurture.
My pet brought me so much joy and laughter, so much comfort. In fact, they reminded me that the purest and most beautiful gifts in life are the humblest ones, when our senses are fully in tune with nature and with you and with the simple things in life.
In fact, that’s the greatest gift of the love I shared with my pet — the reminder of the great love I share with you. My pet could not talk, yet we communicated in a language of the heart, just as you and I often communicate.
Thank you for your vast and inspiring love, Father God. Thank you for loving me so much you sent your son, Jesus, to save me.
And thank you, thank you, for the deep and abiding love I shared with my pet.
Amen.
As you grieve the loss of your beloved animal friend, take your time. Remember that there is no exact timeline for grief, and that it’s normal and natural to mourn the loss of anyone we loved.
Know, too, that your pain is not forever. For as God promises us in Revelation 21:4, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
Thanks be to God.
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Photo credit: ©Getty Images/PongMoji
