Ekteleo Ministry

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

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

The holidays are a difficult time for many people, especially for those who are alone, are grieving, or both. Our culture promotes the idea that this season is primarily for families, couples, and happy people, which leaves out more people than you may realize on first glance. Family gatherings and holiday parties are full of exuberance, energy, and the noise of many people talking at once. Being around this level of activity, however, can be overwhelming for older family mem

I recently read a moving blog post from a Julia Anne Waterfield raising awareness about the dangers of postpartum depression, following the death of her friend, Allison, by suicide. Depression is a complicated, multifaceted disease from which millions suffer in silence. It comes in many shapes and sizes, but when it is severe, it can be deadly. Suicide like grief is something most people do not want to talk about or acknowledge. Yet it is the 10th leading cause of death in th

Sometimes when we grieve, silence and solitude can be heart wrenching as we feel very lonely and cry out to touch or hear our loved one just one more time. It also can be very difficult to adjust to life alone after many years of being together or to find ourselves alone after a relationship break-up, leaving a job, or perhaps moving to a new city. Further, feelings of isolation are common among grievers, as many people do not want to talk about grief or experience someone el