How Can We Ever Get Over Losing a Beloved Furry Friend?
Many of us have furry friends (cats, dogs, and other critters) that become beloved parts of our family, and we are devastated when they die, either by accident, sudden illness, or old age. It is very sad, and we often wonder if we can ever get past the grief. Also, if our pets die from an accident, we also can be consumed by guilt. This post offers hope in what may feel like a hopeless situation. Much of what is presented here appears in earlier posts. So, please take the tim
Five Things to Know About Grieving
Yesterday evening I attended Southwest Christian Care’s (SWCC) annual memorial service for those who had died during the past year. Southwest Christian Care, located in Christian City, Georgia, provides hospice, senior services, and respite care for special needs children. Last year, SWCC’s amazing staff ministered to 125 souls who spent their last hours and days in their care, all at no charge to them or their families. The service was celebrated at Lester Road Christian Chu
Ekteleo Ministry: Refocusing, Reframing, Rebranding
Ekteleo Ministry now offers Spiritual Direction directed quiet days, and spiritual book studies in the Christian tradition. The Grief Recove
Grief: Instead of Going Three and Out; Go Three and In
To borrow a line from pro football, our culture encourages us to think of grieving the death of a loved one as “three and out." In other words, we get three days off from our jobs to deal with a death, including the funeral, burial and tying up loose ends, then it’s back to work as if nothing happened. Our response to death tends to follow this same pattern. We jump right in with good intentions, such as meals, visits, phone calls, texts, messages, cards and flowers. But, ver
If You Don’t Like Where You Are – Move. You Are Not a Tree!
At first you may be tempted to chuckle at this headline, but then you may be wondering what does it have to do with helping me get past my grief? Quite a lot. Consider what happens when we physically stop moving. Muscles become weak, standing and walking gets difficult, and we lose our sense of balance. In short, we become stiff and freeze up. This also can happen to our emotional health during times of severe stress, such as grieving a loss. Our culture encourages us to sepa
