“What can I do?” is a question that’s likely echoing for many of us as we see the devastating images coming out of Syria and Turkey. I’ve been grateful to see humanitarian organizations mobilizing, to have opportunities to donate to such efforts, and to watch other countries offer and lend their help.

But I wanted to do more—especially for those in the quake zone and beyond who are struggling with unimaginable grief and heartbreak. And as I kept asking that question—“What can I do?”—a time in my own life when I faced shock and grief came to thought, like a reminder that there is a way forward.

In those moments of my own heartbreak, I experienced something as I never had before. It was a presence that I didn’t feel I’d even had the will to call for, but was still making itself known to me. It felt like love—but not from a person. It was a sense of love that was so much bigger than anything personal or finite. And my upbringing as a Christian Scientist gave me the vocabulary for it: divine Love, another name for God.