Spiritual Grief

On September 2, 2008, our twin daughters, Kayla and Kelsey, were returning home from Lubbock-Cooper High School after basketball practice. A 40,000-pound dump truck veered into their lane. Kelsey was driving. She was 18. Kayla was injured, but lived. We were sent spiraling on a spiritual journey, a parent's worst nightmare. The audiobook describes our life beforehand, both as a family and where each of us was spiritually, but most of the story focuses on our travail after the accident.

Behind monastery walls, men of God spend their lives preparing for the passage of death. Best-selling French author Nicolas Diat set out to find what their deaths can reveal about the greatest mystery faced by everyone - the end of life. How to die? How to respond to our fear of death? To answer these and other questions, Diat travelled to eight European monasteries including Solesmes Abbey and the Grande Chartreuse. Through extraordinary interviews with monks, he learned that their death experiences are varied and unique, with elements of peace, pain, humility, sorrow, and joy.

Melissa Zaldivar talks honestly about losing everything that once defined her and how God used unexpected opportunities, like working at Orchard House, where Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women, to spark a journey of working through her grief and encountering the all-sufficient love of Christ. Weaving inspiring passages of Scripture and insights from Little Women into her personal story, Melissa encourages listeners with her discovery that it’s when we have nothing left to offer that we can receive God’s love the most. And that’s something that can never be lost.

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.

What do you do when you are suddenly navigating a life you didn't sign up for? You never saw this pain coming, and you're facing a future you'd pass up if you could. Lisa Appelo understands deeply. She has experienced the raw emotions and uncertainty that come when everything falls apart. Lisa went to bed married and woke up a widow and single mom to seven children. She wrestled with impossible questions about her future—and then found life-changing answers that gave her the strength to move forward with true joy.

It's easy to trust God when things are going our way and the world makes sense. But when suffering strikes—especially seemingly senseless suffering—we are filled with doubt and stunned by events spiraling beyond our control. In the midst of suffering, we often question the very foundation of our faith—our belief in the God who says he loves us. Joni Eareckson Tada, a woman who has lived in a wheelchair for more than thirty years, and Steve Estes, a pastor and one of Joni's closest friends, explore the answers. When God Weeps is not so much a book about suffering as it is about God.

After her brother died unexpectedly and her mother moved into a dementia-care facility, spiritual travel writer and Episcopal deacon Lori Erickson felt called to a new quest: to face death head-on, with the eye of a tourist and the heart of a pastor. Blending memoir, spirituality, and travel, Near the Exit examines how cultures confront and have confronted death by investigating Egypt's Valley of the Kings, Mayan temples, Colorado cremation pyres, Day of the Dead celebrations, Maori settlements, and tourist-destination graveyards.

Times of disaster are unavoidable. We don’t get to choose whether or not to live in such times. We can only choose what to do with the time that we live. Will we let fear and darkness overwhelm us, or will we choose to shine the light of hope? In Hope in Any Crisis, pastor and best-selling author Bill Johnson reveals the powerful divine protection offered to you as a believer, three responses you can experience in times of uncertainty, and your responsibility to have hope in all things.

Standing at a departure gate in Dallas' Love Field, Dave Roever held his recent bride Brenda in his arms and kissed her goodbye. He knew fully the dangers awaiting him in the raging battles in Vietnam, yet he promised the love of his life that he would return to her "without a scar".

In this unabridged audio download, Letters from the Land of Cancer, award-winning writer Walter Wangerin Jr. offers his profound insights into the greatest challenge we face: confronting our own mortality. Diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer in January 2006, Wangerin began writing letters to his friends and family members. Now he offers these intimate letters to all who ask questions about living and dying well.

After years on the road performing at sold-out venues, Tyson Motsenbocker returned home to the impending death of his 57-year-old hero and mother. He begged God to heal her, but she died anyway. When they buried her body, Tyson also buried the childhood version of his faith. Shortly before her death, however, Tyson became intrigued by the complicated legacy of Father Junipero Serra, the 18th-century Franciscan monk and canonized saint who dedicated his life to the idea that tragedy and suffering are portals to renewal.

The loss of a loved one is tough enough, but when Regina Richards experiences the loss of her spouse of many decades, little does she expect the extraordinary sequence of events about to unfold. First, there is the mysterious whistling that comes from out of nowhere, followed by the black patent-leather dancing shoes that miraculously appear in her bedroom. (She doesn't dance.) And then come the visits from her dearly departed husband, to explain what it is like on the other side. Surely this would be enough for anyone to begin to think they were losing it.

15 ANNI DI INDAGINI RIVOLUZIONARIE. IL LIBRO DEFINITIVO SUI TEMI DELLA VITA E DELLA MORTE. IL BILANCIO DI UN GIORNALISTA D’INCHIESTA, MA ANCHE DI UN UOMO E DI UN PADRE, DESIDEROSO DI TRASMETTERE A SUA FIGLIA IL PROFONDO SENSO DI PACE GENERATO DAL SUO VIAGGIO ALLE FRONTIERE DELLA VITA. Che cosa succede quando moriamo? Cosa accade alla nostra coscienza? Sopravvive alla morte cerebrale? Queste domande si sono imposte impetuosamente a Stéphane Allix nel momento della morte del fratello.

We all have a “this” moment. A major struggle in life, a sudden calamity, a burning wound we never could have prepared for. The impact can knock the spiritual wind out of us and leave us sprawled out on the ground—or send us straight to the strength of the Father. Whatever your “this” may be, God can use it to equip you with strength, and He has a plan to lovingly bring you into wholeness. In God Will See You Through This, author and teacher Dr. Jim Garlow humbly journeys alongside you to share twenty-six of the most life-altering lessons he’s learned.

Join David Faust as he helps answer questions such as: How should I deal with my fears about aging? What should I do when I retire? How can I enjoy a fruitful relationship with God as I grow older? How should I deal with grief when friends and family members pass away?

Depression, anxiety, and other issues are some of the most common problems that people must overcome when they are going through the stages of grief. These symptoms can last for weeks, months, and even years. By practicing meditation, you can ease the emotions that are weighing you down so you can once again start living with a sense of peace.

As you wrestle with a terminal illness, are your days filled with medical, financial, and legal decisions and paperwork? Are you struggling to find meaning and purpose in this season of life? Are you overwhelmed with fear and sadness? In Sooner than Later, you will explore the spiritual aspects of a terminal illness. You will gain hope and peace, and yes, even joy, as you navigate this challenging path.

En esta guía práctica y compasiva, la educadora de doulas de la muerte Anne-Marie Keppel incorpora técnicas antiguas y modernas, prácticas de atención plena y apoyo a base de hierbas para mostrar cómo cualquiera puede cuidar a los moribundos, ya sea en casa, en un hospicio o incluso en la UCI. Ella desmitifica el proceso de muerte mientras explica lo que atraviesa el cuerpo durante el final de la vida y presenta prácticas para calmar las emociones y otras formas de reducir el estrés y la ansiedad durante el proceso de muerte activa.

In Beautiful, Disappointing, Hopeful, Drew Hyun shows us why our avoiding loss is not the biblical pathway to experiencing beauty. He encourages us to engage with three simple practices—gratitude, grieving, and grace—that can build lasting spiritual resilience as we learn to grow through our loss and disappointment.

People are broken all over the place. Places are broken all around us. But we were made for better than this: We were made for shalom. We were made to be whole - and to make things whole. This is an empowering journey for those who hunger for a better life, for a better world...for those who want to plant and grow the seeds of restoration in themselves and their communities...and for those who want to see the jagged edges made smooth as we move from brokenness to wholeness.