This category are posts about grief, loss, anticipatory grief, parent loss, suicide loss, complicated emotions, faith, memory, love, and learning to keep breathing through the ache of goodbye. Sometimes, breathing is the hard part but keep on moving forward.
Hope does not always begin in a bright, easy place. Sometimes hope begins in the broken place. It begins after the loss, after the tears, after the disappointment, after the phone call, after the ending, after the moment you realized life would not look the way you thought it would. Hope can begin when you…
Being strong can become its own kind of grief. At first, strength may be necessary. You do what has to be done. You make the calls. You handle the crisis. You take care of the people around you. You keep showing up. You keep moving because stopping does not feel like an option. But over…
Today’s post feels like the right place to share something deeply personal. My new book, Nobody Told Me: The Honest Truth About Grief, is now available on Amazon. This book was written from a place I wish I did not understand so well. It was written while walking through the anticipatory grief and loss of…
Grief can change the way you pray. It can change the way you read Scripture. It can change the way you worship, trust, hope, and understand God’s nearness. Loss can shake places in your faith you thought were settled. That can feel frightening. Many people feel guilty when grief affects their faith. They think they…
There is a strange part of grief that people do not always talk about. It is not just that you miss someone. It is not just that you cry, or feel tired, or have moments when the sadness catches you off guard. Sometimes grief makes you feel like you are not quite yourself anymore. You…
Grief is not always about missing another person. Sometimes grief is about missing yourself. You may miss who you were before the loss. Before the illness. Before the betrayal. Before the trauma. Before the depression. Before the family broke apart. Before the diagnosis. Before the responsibility became so heavy. Before life changed in ways you…
Memories can be complicated after loss. A memory can make you smile and ache in the same breath. It can bring warmth to your heart and tears to your eyes. It can remind you of love, laughter, connection, and meaning, while also reminding you that something has changed. That is one of the hardest parts…
Sometimes grief arrives before you have words for it.
Grief can make a room full of people feel empty. You may have people around you. You may have family, friends, coworkers, church members, or acquaintances who care. You may receive the text messages, the “thinking of you” comments, the quick check-ins, and the kind words. And still, grief can feel lonely. That loneliness can…
Grief is exhausting. Not just emotionally. Physically. Mentally. Spiritually. Grief can make your body feel heavy. It can make your thoughts foggy. It can make decisions feel impossible. Grief can make you forget simple things, lose track of time, sleep too much, sleep too little, eat differently, withdraw from people, or feel irritated over things…
Not all grief is obvious. Some grief does not come with a funeral, a casserole, a sympathy card, or people checking in. Grief happens quietly inside a person who is still expected to show up, smile, work, parent, serve, and function. This is the grief no one sees. It may be the grief of a…
There is something about morning grief that can feel especially cruel. Before the day has even started, before your feet touch the floor, before you have had coffee or answered a message or looked at your calendar, grief can already be there. It may hit before you are fully awake. For a few seconds, your…
Grief does not only show up at funerals, anniversaries, holidays, or in the moments when everyone expects you to cry. Sometimes grief shows up in the ordinary. It shows up when you reach for your phone to send a text and remember you cannot. There are days when it shows up when you make too…
Grief Changes You There is no honest way around that. Loss can change how you see the world, how safe you feel, how you trust, how you love, how you pray, and how you move through ordinary days. After deep grief, life may feel divided into before and after. Before the diagnosis.Before the phone call.Before…
Not All Grief Comes From One Big Loss Not all grief comes from one big loss. Sometimes grief comes from life slowly changing. Children grow up. Parents age. Friendships shift. Health changes. Jobs end. Homes feel different. Traditions no longer look the same. The version of life you once knew starts slipping away, little by…
Grief Does Not Move in a Straight Line Grief does not follow a straight line. It comes in waves. Some days, the water feels calm. You breathe easier. You laugh without guilt. You get through the day and think, “Maybe I am doing better.” Then another wave comes. When the Wave Comes Back A date…
When the Person Is Still Here but the Relationship Has Changed One of the hardest kinds of grief is grieving someone who is still alive. It can feel confusing, unfair, and lonely. How do you explain that you miss someone who can still text you? How do you explain that you are grieving a parent,…
Some grief is hard to explain because it is not only about what happened. It is about what should have happened. The parent who should have protected you.The marriage that should have felt safe.The childhood that should have been gentler.The friendship that should have lasted.The apology that should have come.The diagnosis that should not have…
Grief does not always look like tears. Sometimes grief looks like irritability, exhaustion, or forgetting what you walked into the room for. Then sometimes grief looks like being completely fine in the grocery store until a song comes on, a smell hits you, or you see something they would have loved. There are times when…
Grieving while life expects you to keep going One of the strangest parts of grief is realizing that the world does not stop. Your heart can feel shattered.And your body can feel heavy.Your mind can feel foggy.Honestly, your life can feel completely changed. And yet, the sun still comes up. People still go to work.Messages…