We never cope with loss as well as we think we will. It is easy to imagine loss, but impossible to imagine what loss will feel like.

Grief, even when expected, is always an ambush. There is that breathless, helpless, choking sensation, as if you are physically drowning in your own pain. It is terrible.

Pop star P!nk understands this sort of grief very well. Her latest album, Funhouse, was written in the wake of her divorce from motocross racer Corey Hart. As often happens, misery has created great art, and Funhouse is her best album since 2001’s M!ssundaztood. She has moved from dance-pop to something a bit rockier, with a touch of punk and classic R&B thrown in too. It sounds great.

Every track is filled with unclad emotion as P!nk moves through the classic stages of grief. In the smash hit So What, she tries to deny the pain -

So what!
I’m still a rock star
I got my rock moves
And I don’t need you
And guess what?
I’m havin’ more fun
And now that we’re done
I’m gonna show you
Tonight…
I’m alright
I’m just fine

But in the heart-wrenching Please Don’t Leave Me, she is more honest about her grief -

Please don’t leave me
Oh please don’t leave me
I always say how I don’t need you
But it’s always gonna come right back to this
Please, don’t leave me

And in the gorgeous acoustic ballad, Crystal Ball, she is more philosophical and accepting -

Sometimes you think everything is wrapped inside a diamond ring
Love just needs a witness and a little forgiveness
And a halo of patience and a less sporadic pace and
I’m learning to be brave in my beautiful mistakes.

Oh I’ve felt that fire and I’ve been burned
But I wouldn’t trade the pain for what I’ve learned

 
Grief is an inescapable part of our fallen world, and the scriptures tell us that “...man is born to trouble.” God never promises His children a free ride through pain, but He has not abandoned us either.

I know a little about the world that P!nk has passed through. During my own difficult time, my dad spoke some beautiful words that I’ve never forgotten. He said, “You can cross any bridge you come to, and you won’t have to cross any of them alone.” He didn’t realise it, but his words were prophetic - they are the words our God speaks to us when he says, “Surely I am with you, to the end of the age.”

And God promises more than just comfort during grief. He points us beyond our trouble to a hope that P!nk, sadly, knows nothing of. As a more ancient prophet said -

“I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.”