About the Author

Grace P. Cho is a Korean American writer, poet, and speaker. She believes telling our stories can change the world, and desires to elevate women of color’s voices in the publishing industry. Learn more at @gracepcho and gracepcho.com.

(in)side DaySpring: things we love
& you will too!
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(in)side DaySpring:
things we love
& you will too!
Find more at
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  1. Grace, as we walk a stressful season with an aging parent, your words are perfectly timed! The mental picture of Jesus holding us your words evoke, hit the spot to release some of my stress. Thank you for blessing us this am!!!

    • Ruth, reading some of your comments lately, I feel that you and I are walking the same path with our aging parents. You are in my prayers this morning. This is a very stressful season.

      • Gail I will be praying for you to especially see God in the details of this journey. May He be your endurance & give you joy in the midst of the hard. Sending hugs!

      • Gail, hoping the same for you as you care for aging parents. I hope you feel held, that you’re strengthened, that you continue on knowing God is with you in this.

    • Ruth,

      I have been in your shoes. Both my parents had dementia & geriatric psych issues. It was hard & painful to watch as mom was bedridden for two years not knowing anyone but dad & I. Got harder with dad. He had to be moved to an assisted living & hospitalized twice for psych. Praying God will send His peace & calm to your weary souls. May you be comforted by knowing He is walking with you through this rough time.

      Abba Father,

      Please be with Ruth & her family today. She is caring for an aging parent. That can be stressful. Give her the peace that surpasses all understanding. Guide her steps & send comfort to her weary body & soul. Make it known to her that you are right there with her walking alongside. Allow others to help her in any way they can. AMEN!

      Blessings 🙂

    • Caring for aging parents and all that comes with that season of life is so stressful. I’m so grateful that my words brought release, and I hope you feel held this week as you continue on.

  2. Yes I agree and as one who has been a massage therapist for many years, I’ve seen and felt the painful release and the grieving people go through.
    The body keeps the score..it’s a true phenomenon that a great dr. Van Der Kolk has written about… helping people release in brain, mind & body!
    I would like to stress about children needing the cuddling and back rubbing on our laps.. they too hold trauma and just as Jesus holds us we are in Him holding them.. comforting and loving them as He loves us. God bless our children in this world may they see and know Jesus through us
    Blessings to and through you Grace ❤️

  3. Grace, I was so moved reading this. And understand so well not just how our bodies react to stress and trauma but how they respond to a comforting pat. I love the reminder how Jesus used the power of touch to heal.

  4. Aawww! Those healing hands! Such comfort and peace in the hands of Jesus. Thank you for sharing. May blessings and grace continue to overflow to you. Praise God and Amen.

  5. “Jesus Himself must’ve carried grief in His body too, knowing what was to happen to Him.” I think this must be why, when He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before His crucifixion, “His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” (Luke 22:44)

    What a beautiful telling of a hard thing, Grace. There *is* a mind-body connection, and you’ve connected the dots that might explain a lot for our pain (physical+emotional).

  6. thank you for sharing your experience. I recognize I hold emotion in my body but have difficulty releasing it. Your sharing of you experience will help me be more self aware and hopefully more able to find healthy ways to ” let go” of my frequent aches/knots

    • Jill, I do hope you find ways to do that as well. I notice that even when I need to cry, I sometimes can’t get there emotionally on my own and need a sad or touching movie to get the tears going. Whatever way you need to release the emotion, I hope you can get creative!

  7. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I understand well. Jesus has been and is doing a deep work in my heart. I know believe and accept I am of value, Jesus restored this to me. Keep yourself in the love of God is not a suggestion but an intentional action we all need.

  8. This is so lovely, Grace. When my dad was dying, some friends arranged for me to have a foot massage. I had that same experience, lots of tears streaming down my face. But I felt seen and touched and comforted. It was a blessing during that raw, awful, painful time. Thank you for reminding me.

  9. Dear Grace , Thank you for sharing . Thank you for inviting the Holy Spirit to work through you and your writings. This really spoke to my soul and opened up new understanding. God bless

  10. Your devotional was beautifully written & so encompassing. Thank You Grace for speaking about pain in relationship to marriage.
    Bless you & for doing so.

    • I’m glad we connected on that pain point. I wonder how often is too often to mention marriage pain, but then I get comments like yours, and I know that we all need to know we’re not alone.

  11. You write so beautifully and graphically, Grace. Thank you for sharing such an intimate experience with us. I love watching your (in)courage podcasts with Becky, Dorina, Joy, Kathi and Lucretia. They are so incredibly interesting and insightful. Keep up the good work. Bless you all!

  12. Thank you for this memorable illustration, Grace, of the importance of touch and the profound effect it can create. There IS power in a touch, proven by researchers. Just a touch on the arm is enough to release the feel-good endorphin, oxytocin, into the system. What a privilege we have to be a balm for others–with our words, presence, and touch! May we be diligent in watching for opportunities.

  13. What an excellent word! I’ve had moments of spontaneous tears & experienced that release when the Holy Spirit, whether through the hands of others or by The power of His presence, has healed the trauma & pain. I want to allow the Holy Spirit to work that healing through me as I am with others.

  14. I shed tears while I was on the massage table once as well. It was painful to get those knots out. And I was reminded that God does the same thing with me sometimes. He allows me to go through painful times to get out what my body is unnecessarily carrying, to get me to release and to be healed.

  15. Grace,

    Thank you for sharing a powerful, intimate message. Crying or weeping is the dropping o tears (or welling of tears in the eyes) in response to an emotional state or pain. I often wonder if crying is an act of worship. God has been blessing me a lot since the middle of September. The other day I was told to apply for a full-time job as it was written just for me (Woah!!) On the way out of the parking garage a song came on that included hallelujah He’s alive. All I could do is cry steady streams of tears. These were tears of thankfulness for ALL he’s given me.

    I often cry during worship services-especially when we get to communion each week. When I think about ALL Jesus went through-being beaten with cat of 9 tails, dying for me on the cross-for me I get awed. Why would He do that for just little old me? He has held more pain & grief than we can imagine.

    Blessings 🙂

    • I totally think crying can be an act of worship. Sometimes words don’t come, sometimes singing praise gets choked out by the tears, and just crying is all we can do. He sees that and knows.

  16. So well said, Grace. For years my body carried trauma from an accident, but I didn’t know that all those aches and pain were stored in my body. After I read about this cause and effect, I started working to free the trauma. It took me years to put together that real stressful times, like caring for an injured relative, would cause pain a few months down the road. Eventually the pain would get so bad I would finally address it with massage or physical therapy. It would eventually go away and then happen again after another stressful event. Now I know when I am entering a stressful situation or period, to be gentler with myself and try to breathe and relax each day and talk about the stress with God and a friend. That doesn’t always mean that I won’t end up in physical therapy with jaw pain or back pain, but it does mean that I now see the relation between the two in a clearer manner.

  17. As I read this I felt an almost unbearable weight press down on my entire being…This heaviness has been such a normal, daily weight that I’ve carried for such a duration that it has robbed me of so much joy. I’ve never heard that our bodies hold grief in this way, I always just thought grief as merely an heavy emotion causing great mental stress and turmoil… but as I read your post I just cried so intensely that it felt like little pockets of grief were pouring out of body from places they had been so settled into to.
    Thank you for reminding me of the undeserved grief that Jesus carried to his death…. that out grief is fully known to a God that leans in to our pain and completely understands it. Thank you for reminding me that He is the healer of our bound up turmoil that takes root in our earthly broken down bodies….. that he is the ultimate physician of our wounds.

  18. Dale

    Thanks for sharing Grace, I now understand that we store stress on our body and not be conscious of it, well said sis.