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| A Sabbath Rest for Grief - Exploring Soul Care When You're Grieving with Edie Melson |
I had the privilege of interviewing Edie Melson, author of Soul Care When You’re Grieving. This is the third and latest book in the Soul
Care series, which consists of Soul Care When You’re Weary, and Soul
Care for Writers.
There are many books about handling grief on the market today, but this one is unique in the perspective of combining simple art and creativity with caring for our emotions. The goal of the Soul Care books is to give people who are in a crisis or busy time a way to not be overwhelmed with a big Bible study. Each book contains five short chapters, devotions, and five creative connections.
Edie discovered the creative healing path while helping her
mother and sister care for her father who was an Alzheimer’s patient. This type
of care requires continual monitoring and can drain a person physically and
emotionally. She didn’t have time to participate in a long, in-depth Bible
study.
When Edie cried out to God for help, He told her to give Him
the bits and pieces of time when she had a break. She started to doodle in a
notebook with colored pencils while reading a verse of scripture. Other times
she focused on a word such as faith or trust and scribbled whatever came to
mind.
She discovered that exploring her thoughts this way brought peace to her mind. It was a mental Sabbath rest. It helped control her apprehension and focus on God. As she did, He filled her up.
Edie shares about different losses she has experienced in her family and friendships. She lost her father, father-in-law, best friend, and daughter-in-law in unrelated circumstances.
Grief is not a gift, but we can learn lessons that can help us lift others up, and for when we may experience this pain again.
- We shouldn't judge someone else's method of bereavement as right or wrong just because it is not like ours. She discovered that each loss affects us in distinctive ways, and the way we engage those grieving moments are mixed for everyone who feels the heartbreak.
- Counseling is important. We don’t need to traverse these moods
alone. We should be willing to ask for help. Some members of Edie’s church stepped
up and provided anonymously to a fund for the family to receive counseling
after the loss of her daughter-in-law.
- Healing is a continual undertaking. It is important not to bottle up feelings. Holidays and certain milestones will be difficult. Edie’s son who lost his wife said it best, “I will cry when I feel like crying, and I will laugh when I feel like laughing because I loved her more than anything.”
- Continue the passage of Sabbath rest through easy art forms, reading, and praying. As we delve further into scripture, new revelation can emerge that brings us closer to our Savior and continues to heal our minds. Edie shared how the Bible took on new meaning to her and she drank in familiar Bible verses on a deeper level than ever before.
- We should give ourselves grace to manage whatever emotions surface and make sure to use scripture as our medication. Grief can appear again unexpectedly and should be grasped accordingly. The varying stages of our despair such as denial, anger, and questions don’t always affect us in the same order. Having experienced a certain feeling doesn’t mean that one is over.
- Allow joy to return. Don’t allow guilt over feeling happy again to rob the memories of the loved one. It’s okay to live life again.
Since every human has experienced angst in some form, this manual
of hope takes us through the halls of emotional pain to discover God’s Word in
a fresh new way. The creativity projects connect us to the parts of our hearts
that seek release.
Edie says that it is hard to process your mental state when
you are in the dark. Journaling, coloring, or examining what a cell phone pic
can say to us can flip the light on feelings we need to discover and release to
the Lord.
We should remember that broken hearts don’t only result
through death. We can grieve over loss of relationships, careers, and opportunities.
No matter which one we face, we know we have a heavenly Father who cares about our
pain, and we need to let Him reach in to heal us. One of our responsibilities as Titus 2 women is to encourage, pray, and support each other.
I hope you will consider using this collection of devotions,
prayers, and creativity to connect with our heavenly Father on a soul level and
keep your eyes open to a fourth companion book sometime in the future, Soul
Care for Empty Nesters.
Thank you, Edie, for sharing your heart with us and for giving
us the soul food that God gave to you through this book. You can connect and
learn more about Edie at her website, www.ediemelson.com.
Please feel free to join the conversation and share your thoughts.
A Sabbath Rest for Grief—Exploring Soul Care When You’re
Grieving with Edie Melson (click to tweet)
Great article Ms. Barbara. Yes; we all will suffer loss, but few of us grieve in the same way, even when the loss shares the circumstances. In my life, grieving has taken the form of profound hurt, anguish, and longing that seems to never go away. Other times, there's been but few tears and prayers of thanks for God's mercy toward that person. How we grieve is not as important as accepting that grief is that last act of love for that which was lost. More important is who we turn to in our grieving. Am enjoying the book, as Ms. Edie's words invited readers to grieve along with her in her family's grief journey.
ReplyDeleteJ.D., we do grieve because we love the person who is no longer with us. I like your statement, "grief is that last act of love for that which was lost." And who we turn to in our grief is most important. Only our heavenly Father can heal our hurting hearts. Thanks for sharing. Blessings!
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ReplyDeleteI so appreciate Edie's vulnerability in sharing the tough paths she is traveling on. She reminds us how great God's love is for us and how important community is.
ReplyDeleteDiana, Edie's vulnerability is what makes her writing so easy for all of us to identify with. Her book revealed God's love to her and her family through the tough times and gives us ways to seek healing for our own hearts through her creative projects and devotions. Thanks for sharing. Blessings!
DeleteI don't know that we ever complete the stage of grief in order to leave it behind us, but help along the way is necessary. We all grieve in unique ways and our coping takes many different forms. I'm grateful that Edie has shared her experience to help those of us still in the sharp and painful portion of the journey. Thank you for sharing about Soul Care When You're Grieving, Barbara.
ReplyDeleteWe do grieve in different ways and finding the path to healing in God's Word is what brings us through those grief stages. Soul Care When You're Grieving does offer methods we can use to process our hurts. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Katherine. Blessings!
DeleteVery good review of a book that offers lots of help to grieving souls. And who among us hasn’t experienced loss? Looking forward to Book 4.
ReplyDeleteCandi, I am looking forward to Book 4 also as I am an empty nesters. We have all suffered loss of some type and Edie's book offers us comforting solutions to our pain. Thanks for sharing. Blessings!
DeleteWhat a wonderful post, Barbara, to share Edie's process as she outlines it in her newest book. I loved the book and all that Edie writes.
ReplyDeleteJeannie, I love all Edie's books also. I look forward to the next one. Thanks for sharing. Blessings!
DeleteThank you for pointing us to such a wonderful resource. Grief is a hard taskmaster, but God's grace during this time never fails.
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