Religious Grief

After colliding with a semi-truck, Don Piper died and went to heaven. Ninety minutes later he returned to life on earth. After years of silence, he is now sharing his life-changing story.

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.

God Won't Leave You There is a powerful reminder that God has a plan for your life, even when things are tough and seem hopeless. Drawing from the story of Joseph, rediscover how God can lift you from your pit to fulfill a glorious purpose, convert your struggles into strength, and lead you...

To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die. In recent years non-religious funerals have become more common, but without an established canon of texts to fall back on, it can be difficult to plan an appropriate service for a loved one who had no religious belief or connections. Texts recommended by secular humanists, especially modern texts, can sometimes sound trite or overly informal.

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.

Thirty short-yet-powerful morning and evening reflections offer encouragement, hope, and inspiration to people dealing with a life-threatening illness, and to their family members and caretakers. Here are honest insights and personal stories from a pastor who continues his own journey with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's disease".

In this impressionistic collection of “poetry and other thoughts scattered to the wind,” author Ruqayyah K. Muhammad reflects on topics such as self-discovery, aging, motherhood, grief, gratitude, spirituality, and love of many varieties.

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.

Donna Freitas wants to believe. Raised Catholic, she sang songs about Jesus as a child and lived in a house where nuns and priests were regular guests, yet she found herself questioning the faith of her family, examining the reasons none of it added up, and distancing herself from the God of...

Charlie, a musical theater nerd with a deep appreciation for sprinkle-topped ice cream and other snack foods, is active in his church and comes from a family who loves and appreciates him for exactly who he is, purple pants and all. Tim, a lover of crinkle-cut pickles, black olives, and other forgivably disgusting crudités, belongs to a conservative Christian pastor and devout mother who move to the rural town to staff a small church that, predictably, holds little place for Tim. After meeting online and attending a youth group at another church, Tim and Charlie become fast friends.

A memoir of the profound destabilization that comes from losing one’s faith - and a young woman’s journey to reconcile her lack of belief with her love for her deeply religious family.

The loss of a loved one is devastating, and the grief that follows is often crippling. While modern Western culture has adopted an aren't-you-over-it-yet? attitude toward death and the grief it brings, the grieving process can take years. Weeks and months go by with no visible improvement. We...

A bright light was extinguished in the universe on January 13, 2004, when 21-year old Rebekah Swanson, a college senior, died in a car accident. In More Than Can Be Measured, author Rona Swanson, Rebekah’s mother, shares her thoughts, feelings, and emotions as she and the family deal with their grief in the aftermath of Rebekah’s sudden death. Weaving in entries from Rebekah’s journal and photos, this memoir shares the wisdom and understanding Swanson gained as she felt the stark pain of the loss of her daughter.

A 29-year-old son and only child passes. He nudges his mother to open up to spirit so she can build a new relationship with him. Letters to David unlocks a door to spirit and offers hope for parents who have suffered tragic grief. There is an immediacy and accessibility to Claudia and David's relationship that provides laughter, tears, and hope to those grieving what they see as the "end" of a relationship. Enclosed, you will find valuable tools for healing and growth. We don't die, and our loved ones remain with us forever.

Was passiert mit deinem Körper, wenn du stirbst? Was fühlst du - Trauer, Schmerz? Und dann, wenn dein Herzschlag verstummt ist? Was geschieht mit deinem Leichnam, bis du bestattet wirst? Wie wird man um dich trauern? Sterben, Tod und Trauer sind unumgänglich, für jeden von uns. Und doch wissen wir kaum etwas darüber. Wer diese Frage stellt, nähert sich einem Tabu - aber auch einer Wissenslücke. Minutiös und eindringlich beschreibt Roland Schulz, was wir während unserer letzten Tage und Stunden erleben.

More than a decade ago, Jerry Sittser prayed for the protection of his family, yet three of his loved ones - his daughter, his wife, and his mother - died in an automobile accident. What went wrong? When God Doesn't Answer Your Prayer takes an honest and probing look at the problem of unanswered prayer. In doing so, it draws us ever deeper into a relationship with the God who is the end of all our prayers, the object of our faith, and the one who fulfills our deepest longings.

Tombstones is a collection of some of the finest dark verse and horror-themed literature while exploring the various elements of dreams, erotica, and psychology and visualizing complete fear and terror...including the popular dark verse "The Fallen Angel", the powerfully erotic vampire tale "Blood Hungry", and a journey into the mind of the "Wicked Torturer".

Texas businessman Mike Fechner had it all. Money. Investments. Prestige. Until he did the unthinkable. He sold his company and poured his life's earnings into a ministry for the poor. With a strong faith in God at his core, this millionaire turned missionary envisioned a long future serving the urban Dallas poor and the people of poverty-stricken Africa.

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.

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?