"A truly healing book." - Glen Lord, President, The Compassionate Friends
Unthinkable. Unbelievable. Heartbreaking. Whatever words we choose, they all fall far short of the reality. The loss of a child is a terrible thing.
Accidents. Disease. Suicide. School shootings. Murder. Natural disasters. War. No matter how or when, the death of a child (no matter what age) can shatter the heart.
How do you survive this? Can you?
Shattered: Surviving the Loss of a Child was written to help.
Bestselling author, hospice chaplain, and grief specialist Gary Roe uses his three decades of experience interacting with grieving parents to give us this heartfelt, easy-to-read, and intensely practical book. In Shattered, Roe walks the reader through the powerful impact a child's death can have - emotionally, mentally, physically, relationally, and spiritually.
Shattered unpacks the depth of this loss, describing how...
- Intense, unpredictable emotions (sadness, anger, guilt, anxiety, fear, depression) can hijack us at a moment's notice.
- Our minds spin. We can't concentrate. We forget things. It feels like we're going crazy.
- Our bodies get hit. Symptoms surface. Our health can be impacted. Illness can invade.
- Our souls feel crushed. Guilt shakes us. What we believe gets challenged.
- Our relationships change. Marriage, family, and friendships feel the impact.
- Our plans and dreams are shattered. The future has changed. We're in uncharted territory.
Yes, the loss of a child affects everything.
In Shattered, you will discover how you can...
- Deal with the volatile, unpredictable emotions assaulting you.
- Manage the massive changes that are occurring in your life and routine.
- Move through feeling overwhelmed and begin to heal.
- Take care of yourself and your health amid all the challenges.
- Honor your child with how you grieve.
- Love those around you, even with a broken heart.
- Navigate spiritual uncertainties and faith questions.
- Turn couple, family, and relational upheaval into personal growth.
- Support your other children in their grief and parent well through this.
- Find the people and resources you need to begin to recover.
- Decipher whether counseling or grief coaching would be beneficial for you.
- Live life as well as possible while in the midst of great pain.
- Make your child's life count in deep and powerful ways.
Shattered is not a magic pill. The death of a child cannot be fixed. But comfort, compassion, guidance, and hope can be found in these pages.
If you are a grieving parent or grandparent, this book was written for you.
We will never be the same, but we can survive. And to some degree, we can heal. Shattered can help.
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