A Grief Received : What to Do When Loss Leaves You Empty-Handed

Discover hope, comfort, transformation--the gifts given in grief

Too often, we think of loss like we might a broken bone. We leave the bone alone, protect it from bumps, and wait. We think eventually everything will go back to normal, the same as it always was. But losing a loved one is nothing like a broken arm. Loss is amputation, and the path to healing doesn’t lead back to the same, only ahead to the different. A Grief Received offers a personal, authentic, and practical approach to weathering grief with hope. Writing with deep insight, JL Gerhardt draws on the loss of her younger brother when she was twenty-one, other personal experiences of grief, and her work in ministry alongside her husband, a minister and chaplain. Through nine practices grieving people can adopt to position themselves to receive the gifts of grief, Gerhardt provides touchstones readers will recognize and a path to personal transformation. Each chapter includes personal reflection questions and suggested resources. Gerhardt assumes the role of friend, partner, and speaker of sometimes-inconvenient but always-helpful truths. Readers will walk away comforted, directed, and inspired to seek God and God's shaping in their grief.

JL Gerhardt is storytelling minister for Round Rock Church of Christ, just north of Austin, Texas. She writes books and other resources, is a frequent public speaker, and leads marriage seminars with her husband, a minister. Her understanding of grief has been shaped by the loss of her brother when she was twenty-one.