Grief Walk is designed to be read one chapter a day. Consider it a grief devotional. Take your time. Open your heart. Be honest about your thoughts and emotions. Allow Jesus to meet you in each day's reading.

This practical book is for people who are grieving, for people who want to support them as they undertake the painful journey of grief, and for anyone who wants to reflect on their own experiences of loss. When Alister asked Isobel, whose husband had died a few years before, what would have helped her most then, her response was immediate. ‘Someone who would walk with me. Not people who would talk at me and give me answers, but simply listen to me and walk with me.’ The grief walk. Grieving and loss are universal experiences, but how you experience grief is unique to you. In his ministry, Alister has found that models of the stages of grief are unhelpful, as is the idea of closure. Instead, he gives you permission to work through your grief in the ways, and at the times, that are helpful to you. Alister explores disenfranchised grief that occurs when we are denied the right to grieve and our loss isn’t recognised. Our lives are marked by countless losses and we all carry grief about many losses in our life. If we embrace our grief, we can journey on to something new and find fresh hope. Praise for The Grief Walk “The Grief Walk has a freshness and honesty about grief, beginning with its imaginative title and sustained until the final affirmation of hope. We all experience loss and grief in our lives. But, as Hendery writes, until we name and acknowledge a loss and recognise that we have a right to grieve, we are unable to come to terms with it. He emphasises that grief doesn’t follow a predetermined path and nor can we close it off like a tap. He describes a perceived end process of “closure” as psychobabble. While grief may not be permanently disabling, we learn to encompass it. This is not the same as closure. Grief may find expression in different physical and emotional symptoms and we can’t expect religious faith to provide a magical answer. Finding someone who listens and understands, who in a sense personifies the presence of God, can help us with the grief journey. The Grief Walk confronts the idea that grief is momentary or experienced in clearly-defined stages and points to a hope. This book is a gift for all who grieve or who walk with those who grieve.” John Meredith in Tui Motu Magazine. Issue 253 October 2020: 27 “…Far too often, people present grieving as a one-way process with well-defined stages, concluding with something they call “closure”. I strongly reject such an extremely unhelpful model. Alister does also; he is clear that your grieving is unique to you…” Rev’d Bosco Peters on Liturgy.co.nz “This book will read you as you are reading it. It is a book you will pick up and put down and pick up and put down as you find yourself walking again through parts of your life, maybe unexpectedly rediscovering boggy patches you had forgotten, or not realised are still painful… There is ancient wisdom here alongside modern psychology. There is gentleness, and there is a reality faced that grief is universal, painful, and not always an easy walk… But beware. As I read Alister’s words I found myself thinking, lamenting, crying, and laughing… I surprised myself with the depth of some of what rose to the surface for me. Ancient griefs, recent disappointments, and the ambivalent feelings that came, like fish to breathe the air again.” From the Foreword by The Rev’d Rob Ferguson Contents Title and Copyright Foreword Preface Acknowledgements How I use certain Words Authors who have Influenced Me 1 – Introduction 2 – Our Lives are Laden with Losses Acknowledging our Losses Disenfranchised Losses and Griefs 3 – Experiences of Disenfranchised Loss and Grief Grieving for Those Still Living Living Loss and Disability Relational Loss – Divorce and Dissolution Relational Loss – Ending of a Romantic Relationship Unrecognised Relationships The Loss of a Companion Animal Material Losses Infertility and Childlessness Grief in Foster Care The Losses of Miscarriage and Stillbirth Loss from Medical Termination Loss of Employment Discovering Disenfranchisement 4 – Understandings and Misunderstandings about Grief Our Loss and Grief is Unique – so Forget the Rules There’s No ‘One Size Fits All’ – so Forget Stages in Grief We Wax and Wane – so it’s Okay to Retreat from Time to Time A Continual Presence Which can Ambush us – so Forget the Timeline Continuing Bonds – So Forget about Having to Let Go Grief Doesn’t get Closed Off – so Forget about Closure Our Life has Changed – so Forget the idea of Returning to Normal We Grieve in Our Own Way – so Forget the Stereotypes 5 – Experiencing Grief More than Sadness Grief Isolates Experiencing Grief in our Body Experiencing Grief in our Emotions Experiencing Grief in our Thinking and Mental processes Experiencing Grief in our Behaviour Experiencing Grief in our Spirituality Secondary Losses and Loss of Identity When do we Need Professional Interventions? 6 – What do I say? What can I do? Sit Beside me on my Mourning Bench Some Dos and Don’ts Do Talk About the Loss It’s about Relationships Caring Companionship Silence, Tears, and Empathy 7 – Grief is about Love and Attachment Grief – the Price of Love Love as Attachment A Secure Base 8 – God and our Grief – But what Kind of God? Our Vulnerable God Good News Stories of Vulnerability, Loss, and Grief Becoming Vulnerable – Becoming like God Suffering Love that is With Us Discarding the Great Vacuum Cleaner in the Sky Jesus Began to Weep 9 – Words for our Grief – A Gift from the Psalms David’s Dirge Faith Incorporating Grief My One Companion is Darkness Challenging a Cover-up 10 – Walking with Job – A Story of Losing and Grieving The Scene is Set – Job 1:1 – 2:10 Job’s Friends – Job 2:11–13 What the Friends got Right Sitting Shiva What the Friends got Wrong Job’s Wife What Job Needed – Giving Voice to his Grief Anger and the Need to Blame Job’s Questioning Faith Containing Tensions The Climax – Job 38–41 Our Faith may be Challenged and Changed 11 – The Easter Walk Waiting in the Darkness and the Absence Gradual, Imperceptible Resurrection 12 – A Choice – Do we go Through the Pain or Around it? Stewards of our Pain A Great Freedom – How do we Respond? 13 – Our Search for Meaning after Loss Moving Grief from a Noun to a Verb What is Meaning? Reconstructing our Meaning after Loss Meaning in Love Living in a Changed World 14 – Hope Emerges Hopes and Goals Hope Isn’t a Magic Potion Our Sustaining Hope: If God is for us Selected Bibliography Also by Alister G. Hendery from Philip Garside Publishing Ltd Index About the Author Alister Hendery is an Anglican priest in Aotearoa New Zealand. Loss and grief have been a special focus of his ministry for the past 40 years. He has served as a parish priest, educator, counsellor, and funeral celebrant. These days, as well as exploring with others what loss and grief can mean for us, he ministers with faith communities in times of change. He is the author of Earthed in Hope: Dying, Death and Funerals, also from Philip Garside Publishing Ltd.

Don't Get Over It. Get Through It. This book will give you the tools to walk through the process of grief in a healthy way. FEATURES AND BENEFITS Helps readers distinguish between normal and unhealthy grieving Provides practical steps to help readers maintain their physical health, emotional health, and relationships while grieving Offers guidance for working through the crisis of faith grief often brings Gives specific steps the grieving can take toward healing The apostle Paul said Christians do not grieve in the same way as those who do not have hope (1 Thess. 4:13). But that doesn’t mean we don’t or shouldn’t grieve. In The Christian’s Journey Through Grief, Dr. Carol Peters-Tanksley explores the difference in the Christian’s grieving process, showing what a healthy grieving process looks like and how to embrace God’s comfort. As one who recently experienced the death of her husband, Dr. Carol speaks authoritatively yet compassionately from both a personal perspective and the perspective of a physician and minister. In this book she addresses: What to expect while grieving What is normal and abnormal grief How to deal with the physical, emotional, and mental aspects of grief How grief affects one’s relationship with God Which steps the grieving person can take toward healing How the hope of eternity helps in the journey of grief This book will invite grieving readers to embrace the pain of grief without getting stuck in it, and take God with them on the journey so they can experience hope

A beloved spouse dies. Your heart is broken. This unique devotional was written as a companion for you on this difficult, painful journey. You are far from alone. God walks with you.

The Bible assures us it is normal to hurtbut possible to hope. This devotional helps you be honest with your grief, find comfort, and even bring comfort to others.

Presents a guide for dealing with grief and loss, detailing five steps of healing that can lead to a lifestyle alignment with personal values and new possibilities for a re-engaged life. --Publisher's description.

"Help! How do I do this?" Loss strikes. Your heart is stunned. Your world is shaken. Someone special is missing. Life will never be the same. You will never be the same. Questions surface in your mind and heart. You try to make sense of it all. You struggle with overwhelming emotions and troubling thoughts. You tussle with what to do and when. You need answers. You need compassionate, practical direction. You need a guide for this journey - a companion to walk with you through all the questions, wonderings, fears, and obstacles. Welcome to The Grief Guidebook. Multiple award-winning author, speaker, and grief specialist Gary Roe is a trusted voice in grief recovery who has been helping wounded, grieving hearts find hope and healing for more than three decades. Written with heartfelt compassion, this warm, easy-to-read, and practical book reads like a conversation with a close friend. Gary says, "Over the past three decades, I've had the honor of walking with thousands of grieving hearts through the valley of loss. Along the way, I've been asked a multitude of questions about grief and grieving. In this book, I've compiled and addressed more than 70 of the most common questions I've been asked. Each chapter contains a question, a heartfelt response, and some suggestions for how to handle that issue. The beauty of The Grief Guidebook is that you can read straight through or simply go to the question that's currently on your mind and heart. Consider this a reference manual for your grief process. I hope you find The Grief Guidebook helpful, comforting, and healing. Please let me know what you think. Feel free to contact me anytime. I'm here to help, if I can." You have questions. The Grief Guidebook has answers. Grab your copy today.

When we're grieving, we need relief from our pain. Today we often turn to technology for distraction when what we really need is the opposite: generous doses of nature. Studies show that time spent outdoors lowers blood pressure, eases depression and anxiety, bolsters the immune system, lessens stress, and even makes us more compassionate. This guide to the tonic of nature explores why engaging with the natural world is so effective at helping reconcile grief. It also offers suggestions for bringing short bursts of nature time (indoors and outdoors) into your everyday life as well as tips for actively mourning in nature. This book is your shortcut to hope and healing...the natural way.

Words as Medicine What to say to your children to get them through the bumps, bruises, and crises of childhood. Falling off a bike, having a bad dream, getting stitches...sometimes a kiss isn't enough to make it all better. But what you say to your child in those first moments of pain or fear could make all the difference. Using techniques the authors have taught to doctors, nurses, and first responders, Verbal First Aid(tm) explains how words can be used to promote healing from burns, bruises, nightmares, asthma attacks, and more. It provides scripts and tips on how to short-circuit traumatic memories, sometimes just by speaking a sentence or two. This revolutionary book gives parents the responses they need to immediately stabilize their children's emotions. And these methods will build a foundation of confidence and inner strength that will help kids heal at the deepest level, and weather whatever hardships and difficulties they encounter throughout life.

"We are never more human than when we grieve. Twin brothers Ron and Don Williams possess the character, the compassion, and the expertise to produce this outstanding volume on the grief process and recovery. Walking With Those Who Weep will not only provide comfort for those experiencing the losses of life, it will also provide a helpful guide for those who comfort." - Billy R. Smith, Freed-Hardeman University This book is a 13-lesson study designed to give aid to those dealing with grief losses, as well as providing information for ministers, elders, and church members as they minister to those grieving within their own congregations. This book will also be helpful to funeral directors, hospices, and other health-related services in dealing with their clients and patients.