The Great Escape and the Great Wake-Up Call Since my husband\u2019s \u201cgreat escape\u201d to heaven, I\u2019ve been invited to several grief support groups. I\u2019ve declined them all because, right up front, I decided to escape from the mindset that I had to grieve and feel sorry for myself. Though I knew I would miss my sweetheart the day he left and every day thereafter, I knew I had a choice to make. I could wallow in tears or be grateful for the years we had together and carry on. Going to a grief support group, I surmised, would only introduce me to other widows and widowers who were still living in their grief beyond, what I thought, was a reasonable “grieving\u201d date. I didn\u2019t want to hang out with those \u201cpoor souls\u201d. I had arisen from death to life, taken off my grave clothes and put on a garment of praise and joy. I made a point to smile more than I frowned and to LIVE on
A few weeks ago, I saw that my church has a new \u201cFaith and Grief\u201d Support Group. I dismissed any interest to attend it for the same above reasons. But then I felt a tap, tap, tap on my heart\u2019s door and I started getting those \u201cGod\u201d nudges and THAT whisper again. \u201cDonna, be Me!\u201d Oh. My. Goodness. Seriously, God? Once again, my Master Coach was impressing upon me to get out of the \u201cIt\u2019s all about me\u201d to \u201cIt\u2019s about being the hands, feet AND even the mouthpiece of Jesus.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, as a full-fledged veteran widow for eight years, I decided to go to the meeting in \u201cstealth\u201d mode. Be undercover, so to speak. If asked, I’d tell my \u201cvictory\u201d story, impress others with my warrior-esque persona and show them all how to move on. Then that ever-so-subtle voice whispered in my ears: \u201cStop, look and listen, Donna! It’s about Me!” I expected to see mostly older folks, but to my surprise, there were many younger widows, widowers, daughters, sons, sisters, and brothers who had lost loved ones. HELLO, Wake-Up Call! Young, in-between, and old die and all ages can experience great loss. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Great Escape and the Great Wake-Up Call Since my husband\u2019s \u201cgreat escape\u201d to heaven, I\u2019ve been invited to several grief support groups. I\u2019ve declined them all because, right up front, I decided to escape from the mindset that I had to grieve and feel sorry for myself. Though I knew I would miss my…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12524,12525],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grief","category-healing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9610"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9614,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9610\/revisions\/9614"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
We were all asked to tell who we are and why we were there. At my table, a young wife and mom of two young sons, responded in tears \u201cThe only thing I can get out today is my 40-year-old husband, without any warning, died suddenly last month.” She is now having to hold it all together for her young family. There were others \u2013 all ages with their own set of circumstances that didn\u2019t need to hear \u201cTime to move on!” They needed tender love and sensitivity, and in the process, realize they are so much wiser than they realize and they are still here for a reason and God has a plan for them.
Because I
I learned to never judge someone else\u2019s grief or their life or the time it takes for them to heal. In the meantime, I will pray for helping hands to help the single mom or the single dad that is raising their children alone now. I will pray for a mom or dad to show up for the daughter or son who lost one or both of their parents. And, if it\u2019s for me to respond, may I jump up with great joy and enthusiasm and say \u201cPick me! Pick me!\u201d By the way, I\u2019m now on the Faith and Grief Team. Who knew why I waited so long to give others what I\u2019ve received? Oh, I know. God did! <\/p>\n\n\n\n