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    Good Grief: When Grief Meets Grace
    Good Grief: When Grief Meets Grace
    Good Grief: When Grief Meets Grace
    Ebook88 pages1 hour

    Good Grief: When Grief Meets Grace

    By Samara Brennan

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    About this ebook

    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 mothers 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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWestBow Press
    Release dateApr 15, 2013
    ISBN9781449791209
    Good Grief: When Grief Meets Grace
    Author

    Samara Brennan

    Samara Brennan resides with her husband James in the beautiful state of Georgia. She spends her time writing, reading, and laughing.  For more information on Samara’s journey, visit  nathanslifesong.blogspot.com/.

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      Book preview

      Good Grief - Samara Brennan

      Good Grief

      When Grief Meets Grace

      SAMARA BRENNAN

      logoBlackwTN.ai

      Copyright © 2013 Samara Brennan.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      WestBow Press books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

      WestBow Press

      A Division of Thomas Nelson

      1663 Liberty Drive

      Bloomington, IN 47403

      www.westbowpress.com

      1-(866) 928-1240

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

      ISBN: 978-1-4497-9119-3 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4497-9121-6 (hc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4497-9120-9 (e)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2013906389

      WestBow Press rev. date: 4/12/2013

      Table of Contents

      image_205.jpg

      Acknowledgments

      Foreword

      Preface

      1    What in the World Happened?

      2    Peace and Prayer

      3    Say What You Need to Say

      4    Christmas

      5    Mercies in Disguise

      6    A Grief Observed

      7    What Is Normal Anyway?

      8    It’s Okay

      9    Open Communication

      10  Well Said, Paul

      11  Progress

      12  Happy Tears

      13  Our Little Blue Butterfly

      14  Triggers

      15  Greeting Grief

      16  Oh Grief, You Trickster

      17  The Hurt and the Healer

      18  A Little Heads-Up

      19  Just a Little Reminder

      20  The Eighth day

      21  Mother’s Day and Father’s Day

      22  A Sobering Question

      23  Oh, Lord

      24  Walk with Me

      25  Trust in Me Now

      26  Hibernating

      27  Words I Cannot Speak

      28  Angry

      29  Here and Now

      30  Shaken

      31  The Shack

      32  Brave in Progress

      33  Perspective

      34  Puzzling Reflection

      Dedication

      image_205.jpg

      Nathan Dean Brennan,

      born in glory

      August 8, 2011

      And to

      my Savior,

      who makes it all possible.

      Thank you for giving me hope

      and a future.

      Acknowledgments

      image_205.jpg

      To James, thank you for believing when I could not. Thank you for your unwavering support and faithfulness. Thank you for sharing this journey with me and for the laughter through the tears.

      To Arlene, thank you for becoming my daughter. Thank you for making me a mama and for the cuddles. You will always be my child and be a sweet song in my heart.

      To our family, thank you for your fervent prayers. Your dedication to our healing has been a beacon of hope and strength. Your support means everything. Thank you for believing in us.

      To our friends, we praise God every day for you. Thank you for becoming our family and loving Nathan as your own.

      Foreword

      image_205.jpg

      Everyone has met disappointment, heartache, and devastation at some point in life. No greater pain came to our family than the hurt that came on August 8, 2011. There, we were gathered in one room and said good-bye to a dream, a hope, an answered prayer—my nephew Nathan. We never got to hear his laugh or his cry, but we desperately missed him. Missed him? Some may say, But you never knew him. No, we never had the privilege of getting to know Nathan, but we grieved over the loss of expectation, the loss of future hugs, kisses, and joy.

      Some of you reading this book may not have directly experienced the sting of a child dying. Some of you may be reading this book to understand how to help someone you love cope with the death of a child. But all of you reading this book have at some point (or you will in the future) experienced loss in some sense of the word, and you will begin to realize that God doesn’t work in the scope of our understanding.

      Through Samara’s journey, which is not yet fulfilled, you will have the chance to see a raw, bleeding faith in the face of doubt. Hopefully, you will conclude with a deeper sense that though dreams may not come to fruition and expectations often disappoint, God is still I AM. So with tears, groaning, curses, and questions, come those who are weary, lonely, childless, empty-handed, and heavyhearted, come … and God will give you rest.

      —Crystal Johnson

      Preface

      image_205.jpg

      I was not sure what to do with the crushing weight and ache of losing Nathan. I suffered years of infertility. And then without any help from modern medicine, we suddenly had a miracle! A baby! We felt joy, unspeakable joy! For the next nine months, I had a perfect pregnancy. And then he was gone. In a blink of an eye, he was gone without any earthly explanation.

      It was suggested that I write letters to Nathan. However, the emotion was so raw that I could only write a few words before I crumbled into sadness. I wanted desperately to connect with him, to have some tangible reminder of his existence. I decided to try writing about him instead of writing to him, and suddenly, the healing began. After just a few entries, it was Christmastime. I was able to write to Nathan. I was able to tell him how much I adored him and connect with him despite his absence. Through the Lord, this was suddenly possible.

      Sometime after I began writing about Nathan, I remembered that I had received a book shortly after his death. The title was very sad, and it was a bit thick. I imagine it ministered to many people, but it just wasn’t what I was looking for. I thought, There needs to be a small book of inspiration. I thought that there needed to be a book

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