LOSS, DEATH AND BEREAVEMENT ARE INEVITABLE TO HUMAN LIFE. EQUALLY TRUE IS THE HUMAN CAPACITY TO GROW STRENGTH IN THE GARDEN OF SORROW AND SEEK THE PATH OF DEEP GROWTH, TRANSFORMATION AND GRACE, IN THE MIDST OF GRIEF AND PAIN. Neena Verma, an expert companion, counsellor and educator for meaning-inspired 'Grief and Growth', and a bereaved mother herself, offers an in-depth and engaging book, that guides the way to transform grief journey into 'growth and grace' pilgrimage. Her path setting GROWTH Mandala framework shows an evocative and practical way to affirm grief, adapt to the emergent reality with resilience, restore well-being, transform and re-emerge with meaning and grace. This book is for you, if you believe that an affirmative, resilient and meaning-centric approach to life radiates light in the dark night of pain. And this book is for you, if you are keen to facilitate deep existential growth for yourself and others, whether or not in grief. Welcome aboard the pilgrimage of faith, hope, strength, wisdom, meaning, growth, love and grace.

Hidden Grace: Growing through Loss and Grief offers a hopeful model of bereavement for persons experiencing painful losses. Rather than viewing this universal human experience as an illness to be cured or sorrow to be tolerated, Blevins portrays grief as a holistic process that offers the possibility of personal transformation when life is shattered by a significant loss. Blevins draws upon his experience as a mental-health professional and university professor and the traumatic loss of his daughter. He affirms that while grief is agonizing, it is a normal and instinctive human response that can nurture personal growth and wholeness grounded in meditative spirituality. In this way, grief can become both gift and grace in responding to a significant loss, depending upon how one chooses to respond.

Why Suffering Exists: God's Purpose for Pain in the Life of Job and throughout Scripture Why does God allow suffering? The pain of suffering can be overwhelmingly mysterious, but the Bible does provide answers. Throughout Scripture, God allows trials in order to accomplish specific purposes in the lives of his people. When faced with suffering they experience spiritual growth; repentance from sin; or, as in the Old Testament story of Job, the chance to demonstrate devotion to God in the face of inexplicable agony. In Suffering Wisely and Well, Eric Ortlund explores different types of trials throughout Scripture, revealing the spiritual purpose for each and reassuring readers with God's promise of restoration. The majority of the book focuses on Job, one of the most well-known yet misunderstood stories of suffering. Ortlund thoughtfully analyzes the text chapter by chapter, including the doubt of Job's friends, God's response to Job's questions, and the meaning behind important imagery including references to Leviathan and Behemoth. Suffering Wisely and Well shows readers how to deepen their relationship with God during painful experiences in their own lives and how to comfort others who are hurting. Explores Lament and Redemption in Scripture: Helps readers understand how to interpret suffering from a Christian perspective Applicable: Each chapter ends with a "What Have We Learned?" summary Biblical Advice on Grief and Support: Teaches Christians how to avoid blame or legalism when addressing the suffering of others

Though one in four pregnancies ends in loss, miscarriage is shrouded in such secrecy and stigma that the woman who experiences it often feels deeply isolated, unsure how to process her grief. Her body seems to have betrayed her. Her confidence in the goodness of God is rattled. Her loved ones don't know what to say. Her heart is broken. She may feel guilty, ashamed, angry, depressed, confused, or alone. With vulnerability and tenderness, Adriel Booker shares her own experience of three consecutive miscarriages, as well as the stories of others. She tackles complex questions about faith and suffering with sensitivity and clarity, inviting women to a place of grace, honesty, and hope in the redemptive purposes of God without offering religious clichés and pat answers. She also shares specific, practical resources, such as ways to help guide children through grief, suggestions for memorializing your baby, and advice on pregnancy after loss, as well as a special section for dads and loved ones.

The stillbirth of a baby is an unforeseen tragedy that tears at the very core of a parent. How does one move forward after such a loss? How can God reveal himself in such a time? What do you do with the crushing ache and unanswered questions about the death of a baby? Good Grief: When Grief Meets Grace narrates a mother's journey after just such a loss. In spite of her overwhelming grief, she experienced abundant peace and found that the Lord is not absent in the darkness of infant loss. Rather, he meets us in our grief and restores our hearts with perfect grace.

On February 11, 1972, Wanda arrived home at 11:30 p.m. She was the charge nurse at a local nursing home. What she did not know was by 3:00 a.m. February 12, her life would be irrevocably changed by the unexpected violent death of her mother. Walk with Wanda through the cycles of homicidal loss. See how she was spiritually transformed. Allow her to help you regain hope and healing as she gently accompanies you in the aftermath of a loved ones murder. My Story, My Song: Daughter of a Murder Victim is Wandas story of her transition from devastation to spiritual transformation after the loss. Her story is an intimate and inspirational portrayal of how one can be transformed through grief and mourning while experiencing divine and human grace.

Dr. Gaius Davies asks us to consider the lives of key figures in church history. After a brief biographical introduction, he shows us how they all had their particular trial, and how Grace operated in each one of them. He shows how anxiety, guilt, depression and doubt can be present in the finest of Christian lives, but also goes on to show how divine grace can transform human weakness. --

Loss is a word that many of us fear, but few of us evade. In a tragic accident, Gerry Sittser lost three generations of his family. This is not a book about one man's sorrow, however, but a moving meditation on the losses we all suffer--and the grace that can transform us.

The New York Times bestseller from the author of Help, Thanks, Wow, Hallelujah Anyway, Almost Everything, and Dusk, Night, Dawn. Lamott's long-awaited collection of new and selected essays on hope, joy, and grace. Anne Lamott writes about faith, family, and community in essays that are both wise and irreverent. It’s an approach that has become her trademark. Now in Small Victories, Lamott offers a new message of hope that celebrates the triumph of light over the darkness in our lives. Our victories over hardship and pain may seem small, she writes, but they change us—our perceptions, our perspectives, and our lives. Lamott writes of forgiveness, restoration, and transformation, how we can turn toward love even in the most hopeless situations, how we find the joy in getting lost and our amazement in finally being found. Profound and hilarious, honest and unexpected, the stories in Small Victories are proof that the human spirit is irrepressible.

Nine years ago, Pam Cope owned a cozy hair salon in the tiny town of Neosho, Missouri, and her life revolved around her son's baseball games, her daughter's dance lessons, and family trips to places like Disney World. She had never been out of the country, nor had she any desire to travel far from home. Then, on June 16th, 1999, her life changed forever with the death of her 15-year-old son from an undiagnosed heart ailment. Needing to get as far away as possible from everything that reminded her of her loss, she accepted a friend's invitation to travel to Vietnam, and, from the moment she stepped off the plane, everything she had been feeling since her son's death began to shift. By the time she returned home, she had a new mission: to use her pain to change the world, one small step at a time, one child at a time. Today, she is the mother of two children adopted from Vietnam. More than that, she and her husband have created a foundation called "Touch A Life," dedicated to helping desperate children in countries as far-flung as Vietnam, Cambodia and Ghana. Pam Cope's story is on one level a moving, personal account of loss and recovery, but on a deeper level, it offers inspiration to anyone who has ever suffered great personal tragedy or those of us who dream about making a difference in the world.