Religious Grief

You'll meet people who know about darkness, yet still look for light and laughter. Bob finds life and fellowship at the natural burial ground that is his wife's last resting place. Kim's baby lived for only eight days yet left a lasting impact on her mother's heart and on the world. Matthew, who has prostate cancer, lives alone but learns to join song with others travelling a similar road. Ruth has a global pandemic to contend with on top of secondary cancer; while she can't choose her circumstances, she can choose to focus on all that remains possible.

Like the biblical Job, John Ramsey had it all - wealth, social position, a loving family. And like Job, Ramsey was destined for great affliction, as many of the most precious things in his life were cruelly taken from him.

"Okay, Lord, you can have him. But if he must die, I want it to be for something big. I want someone’s life to be changed forever." This is what Laura Sobeich prayed when she found out her 17-year-old son had only one year to live. With this desperate prayer, she released her son to God’s will. At that point, Zach Sobiech was just another teenager battling cancer. When his mother told him to think about writing good-bye letters to family and friends, he decided instead to write songs. One of them, "Clouds", captured hearts and changed not one life but millions, making him an international sensation.

Before May 31, 2008, September Vaudrey's life was beautiful. But on that day, with one phone call from the ER, her whole world - everything she knew and believed - was shaken to the core. Katie, her 19-year-old artist daughter, had been in a car accident and would not survive. How does a family live in the wake of devastating tragedy? When darkness colors every moment, is it possible to find light? Can God still be good, even after goodbye?

Author Julie Fillinger says, “As long as there’s pain and suffering in the world, there’s a need for us to tell our stories, and this is mine.” In Courage to Live Julie shares the raw, honest story of her survival after the death of her oldest son. She describes her grief journey during which she discovered joy and sorrow can coexist and God’s grace is sufficient. She shares practical ways she managed her grief, and discusses what others did and did not do to help during her journey.

Rarely does a new theological position emerge to account well for life in the world, including not only goodness and beauty but also tragedy and randomness. The Uncontrolling Love of God provides a clear and powerful answer to the problem of evil, the problem of chance, and how God acts providentially in the world.

What do we think of when we think about heaven? What might it look like? Who or what might be there? Since humans began to huddle together for protection thousands of years ago, these questions have been part of how civilizations and cultures define heaven, the good place beyond this one. In this engrossing cultural history of heaven, Catherine Wolff delves into how people and cultures have defined heaven over the centuries. She describes how different faiths and religions have framed it, how the sense of heaven has evolved, and how nonreligious influences have affected it.

Returning with her newest poetry book, beloved poet Courtney Peppernell combines storytelling, poetry, and prose in a uniquely inspirational way. Filled with heartfelt anecdotes and insightful messages, The Way Back Home is a tribute to rebuilding our lives after loss. Divided into sections that draw on themes of courage, resilience, purpose, and hope, the collection has Peppernell once again walking us through a redemptive journey of the heart, mind, and soul.

Anne affirms that Heaven truly is the home of your dreams: a home of lasting value that's fully paid for and filled with family, where you will be wanted and welcomed. Best of all, Heaven is a home you are invited to claim as your own. With over 40 percent new and revised content, Anne Graham Lotz has updated her classic book on Heaven for a whole new generation of listeners, and also for herself. With her father, mother, and husband now gone, Lotz beautifully adds her own vulnerability and stories to the journey contained in Heaven: My Father's House.

Dallas Willard spent his life making eternal living concrete for his friends. After his unexpected passing in 2013, the kaleidoscope of memories and the diversity of the lives he had touched could not be confined to one or even two memorial services but three. It is this wide breadth of impact that inspired friends, family, colleagues, students, and leaders of the church to gather their reflections on this celebrated yet humble theologian and philosopher.

As a troubled teenager, Tamara Laroux just wants the pain to go away. Crying out to God for forgiveness, she makes the heart-wrenching decision to end her life. As she plummets from her body to a place of vast darkness, torment, and agony, Tamara instantly realizes the finality of her rash decision and begs God to save her.

In Just Show Up, Kara and her close friend, Jill Lynn Buteyn, write about what friendship looks like in the midst of changing life seasons, loads of laundry, and even cancer. Whether you are eager to be present to someone going through a difficult time or simply want inspiration for pursuing friends in a new way, this eloquent and practical audiobook explores the gift of silence, the art of receiving, and what it means to just show up.

Kate Braestrup's life was transformed by the loss of her husband; now Kate faces the possibility that she may lose her son. As a young mother, Kate Braestrup discovered the fierce protectiveness that accompanies parenthood. In the intervening years - through mourning her husband and the joy of remarriage and a blended family - Kate has absorbed the rewards and complications of that spirit. But when her eldest son joins the marines, Kate is at a crossroads.

Two years after Marilyn loses her fiancé to cancer, she becomes a Christian and marries Henry, joining him in a worldwide ministry that leaves little time for family or personal reflection. When her old grief resurfaces, she’s shocked by the tsunami that rips through their lives. Intensive counselling fails to bring healing, and when Henry writes a public letter that decimates their churches and spins them out of fellowship—and lifelong employment—she faces an emotional and spiritual reckoning that challenges her to the core.

Through captivating stories and with disarming honesty, Bussie gives concrete, practical strategies to help listeners cultivate hope, seek joy, practice accompaniment, compost their pain, and rediscover the spiritual practice of lament. Tackling difficult questions without political divisiveness, Bussie speaks to both progressive and conservative Christians in ways that unite rather than divide.

Emily Curtis is used to dealing with her problems while under the hood of an old Chevy, but when her mom dies, Emily’s world seems shaken beyond repair. Driven from home by hospital bills they can’t pay, Emily and her dad move in with his wealthy sister, who intends to make her niece more feminine - in other words, just like Whitney, Emily’s perfect cousin. But when Emily hears the engine of a 1970 Dodge Challenger and sees the cute gearhead Zander next door, things seem to be looking up. But even working alongside Zander can’t completely fix the hole in Emily’s life.

In what was to become the deadliest attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, the Oklahoma City bombing was one in a long line of violent attacks that have left communities across the nation searching for healing and hope. With the soaring message of the power of love to conquer evil, Grace from the Rubble tells the intertwining stories of four captivating individuals

When your life falls apart - through a death, a lost relationship, a diagnosis - you want more than anything to know that your pain has a purpose. And that beyond your pain, a new day awaits. Tricia Lott Williford discovered this in a few tragic hours when her 35-year-old husband died unexpectedly. In And Life Comes Back, she writes with soaring prose about her tender, brave journey as a widow with two young boys in the agonizing days and months that followed his death.

Losing a loved one can leave you feeling broken, but grief is not something that can be fixed or cured. It is the experience of missing a part of yourself. In Victorious Heart, Kim Peacock openly recounts the devastating loss of her oldest daughter, Nicole, and reveals how the Lord carried her through—and is still carrying her through—the deepest sorrow of her life.

The author attempts to put her life back together following her fiance's tragic skiing accident and, amidst the shattered pieces, searches for hope in a God who heals even unimaginable pain.