Susan, your host, welcomes Kate J. Meyer to today's episode. Kate is an author, a public speaker, a professional counselor, and an ordained minister. Kate is the author of The Red Couch, a novel just out in the summer of 2021 about missed expectations and seeing how the past doesn't define but informs you. Kate's book: Faith Doesn't Erase Grief is a get-help-now manual on loss and grief at the intersections of faith and psychology, helping spiritual readers see loss more clearly. A fan of NaNoRiMo writing goals, she lives in western Michigan with her husband and two chocolate labs, Rocky and Duke.
Key Takeaways:
- Kate shares her grief story
- We never know when we are going to need to know about grief and how to navigate it.
- People need permission to grieve in their own particular way.
- Kate and Susan talk about how society imposes ridiculous time periods for grieving.
- Our grief experiments with different changes as life go on.
- Susan shares her experience this fall, being the first one alone after her husband died and now that her daughter went to college.
- In most situations in life avoiding pain is ok, but not with grief. While grieving, we have to walk through our pain to be able to release it.
- Susan confesses she was angry at God.
- We are allowed to question and express our anger.
- God created our emotions, He won't be surprised by them.
- Things just are - we assign value to them.
- Grief is a whole being experience.
- Kate shares her inspiration and hopes in her book: Faith Doesn't Erase Grief.
- Faith and grief can coexist; you can be angry at God and still keep your faith.
- Doubt is an essential part of faith.
- Kate shares her advice for those who feel they have lost their faith: Hope is a cushion, it doesn't fix the problem, but it helps in sustaining and supporting us.
Resources
Tendrilsofgrief.com
Email Susan: susan@tendrilsofgrief.com
Meet Kate J. Meyer
Find more about Kate on Instagram and Facebook
Visit katejmeyer.com
Faith Doesn't Erase Grief: Embracing the Experience and Finding Hope, Kate J. Meyer
