Grief

After my son's death, I chose to participate in a Grief Share Group. https://www.griefshare.org/

Professional counseling, seeking medical advice, a healthy lifestyle, enjoying community activities, and therapy are not discouraged are frowned upon by the group. There are many online mental health counselors, therapist to assist with grief and loss: https://www.betterhelp.com/ and also, non-religious grief groups to choose from but I chose a Christian Bereavement group. I look forward to the daily encouragement emails, hearing from others during the weekly meetings, the scripturally based lessons, and prayers. Groups are set up on the Grief Share website by zip codes. You select the group you would like to attend once a week for 2 hour sessions. There is an agreement participants are required to read before participating in the group. The course has 13 lessons and an additional meeting during the holiday season. Participants are welcome to attend courses again for as long as needed. There are courses online and a digital workbook also. Because of Covid19, I chose to not meet in person with the group. I have found the distance does not change the effectiveness of ministry. The pre-class videos seem to have the message and testimonies in which I need at the time.

Learning how each individual experiences grief differently has been calming. Reading the exhaustive list of changes, symptoms, experiences that occur during grieving periods caused me to really understand the seriousness of why it is important to not bury grief, pretend everything is fine, and to not walk alone during this transition in the way I do life. Being told it is okay to not be okay is reassuring. Listening to others, process one of the most difficult journey's in life has been humbling. The grief process has been hard, emotionally painful, unpredictable, but also enlightening. Before joining Grief Share, to find courage during this difficult period in my life, I began reading a devotional by Carol Staudacher called "A Time To Grieve". There are a plethora of resources to address the different ways a person may grief according to how the loved one died, how the loved one was related to the grieving individual, the ages of death, the sudden or long-suffering deaths, how people in the same household will grieve differently, and other questions those who are grieving may have. Reading books and devotionals during my transition to life on earth without my son is helping me focus more on doing life differently, creatively, and more productively.

My current list of books to read:

1. "It's Okay That You're Not Okay" Meeting Grief and Loss in a Culture That Doesn't Understand by Megan Devine

2. "Grieving With Hope" Finding Comfort As You Journey Through Loss by Samuel J Hodges IV and Kathy Leonard

3. "A Force of Will" The Reshaping of Faith in a Year of Grief by Mike Stavlund

4. "Walking with God through Pain and Suffering" by Timothy Keller

5. "Why Suffering?" Finding Meaning and Comfort When Life Doesn't Make Sense by Ravi Zacharias and Vince Vitale

6. "Shelter in God" Your Refuge in Times of Trouble by Dr. David Jeremiah

7. "A Place of Healing" Wrestling with the Mysteries of Suffering, Pain, and God's Sovereignty by Joni Eareckson Tada

8. "The Land Between" Finding God in Difficult Transitions by Jeff Manion

9. "Beautiful Things Happen When a Woman Trusts God" by Sheila Walsh

10. "Amazed and Confused" When God's Actions Collide With Our Expectations by Heather Zemple

11. "You Be You" by Jamie Ivey

12. "Sources of Strength" Meditations on Scripture for a Living Faith by Jimmy Carter

13. "Through A Season of Grief" a devotional by Bill Dunn and Kathy Leonard

14. "The Tender Words of God" by Ann Spangler

15. "The Peace God Promises" Closing the Gap Between What You Experience and What You Long For: Ann Spangler

16. The Holy Bible (any version)