A Prayer for Reconciliation by Reepa Evic-Carleton with an introduction from Dan Collado, The PAOC Indigenous Guiding Group Coordinator. (Click here to view or share.)
Published on // Written by
Dealing with death is uncomfortable, to say the least. In my experience, people don’t often know how to respond to someone healing from trauma. When one has a death in the family, you hear so many people saying either the same things or some really weird things. Don’t get me wrong. I know people mean well and simply don’t have words to say when something as strange as this happens. I mean, I lost my entire family—four of them in the last five years. It was shocking. I don’t even know what to say about it myself sometimes. Maybe tragic is the best way to describe it. It certainly has caused great suffering, destruction, and distress. But what exactly does that mean? Is my life doomed to be a Shakespearean play that ends in my ultimate downfall?
To finish reading this article, click here.
Grief is an all-consuming, universal human experience that takes many forms. Parents grieve a child whose life is cut short; children grieve a parent whose memory fades; childless couples grieve what could have been and may never be. The ill and elderly grieve losing health and independence, and unprocessed grief can lead to illness and suffering of its own. And if we’re not the ones grieving, we’re an onlooker to someone else’s grief.
“Why can’t you just be happy for me and let it go?” I remarked to a friend, who insisted we keep praying for pregnancy. After being diagnosed with lupus at age 27, I was prescribed a plethora of toxic meds and told any potential pregnancy would be high risk. The fear of all the “what ifs” almost kept my husband and me from trying altogether. My sister also has an autoimmune disease, and she gave birth to a healthy baby boy, so we remained hopeful. But as time passed, thoughts of hope and joy were replaced with doubt. The faith that once compelled me to pray and seek God was gradually displaced by the thought: It’s never going to happen.
Dr. Bill Webster’s latest 184 page book designed to assist family’s and individuals coping with life threatening situations. Packed with understanding and practical suggestions, including the need for professional services,legal and financial planning, and funeral arrangements.
When I experienced the loss of a pregnancy, I wanted two things in that place of pain. First, to know that I as not alone in it. Second, to believe there was hope. Adriel Booker offers both in Grace Like Scarlett. I wish I’d had this book years ago.
One December day, the daughter-in-law of Lloyd and Gwendolyn Carr shot herself. Like any suicide, this one left a family with immense pain and many questions. But unlike most families surviving a suicide, this one included a trained biblical scholar and a sensitive poet.
Besides facing and attempting to deal with the unavoidable grief, Lloyd Carr found himself reviewing Scripture and church history to determine exactly what Christians think of suicide. Gwendolyn Carr wrote a series of penetrating and healing poems on this most sensitive of subjects.
The result is a book that not only will comfort those who live on after a loved one has committed suicide, but offers solid guidance for those who worry about the eternal fate of that loved one. It also will prove a reliable and readable summary of Christian thinking about suicide-of use to pastors, counselors or students and teachers.
Suffering the loss of a loved one at any time of the year is difficult, yet during the holidays or special occasions, those grieving experience a more intense sense of loss. The world is moving forward and celebrating life and all its blessings, yet for grievers, a darkness pervades the holiday.
This book is an invitation to Christmas and its companion holidays of the season which compose a grueling triathlon which begins on Thanksgiving and continues unabated for forty-five days until the last of the bowl games on New Year’s Day.
In his counseling work, Harold Ivan Smith has heard all the questions – even the most obscure, personal, and difficult ones – that occur to grievers as they process their loss. Here he compiles more than 150 common questions, explores the emotions behind them, and provides clear and forthright responses. Whether readers find the answers they seek, new perspectives to ponder, or comfort from knowing that others ask similar questions, this valuable resource will guide individuals who are in the midst of grief and those who wish to provide comfort
Roses in December has helped readers understand the grieving process, support family members, give insight into sibling grief, and maintain their marriages during difficult times. This book offers compassion and encouragement plus chapters on losing loved ones under special circumstances, such as suicide and AIDS.