Your Grief Is Unique

Your grief is unique. No one grieves in exactly the same way. Your experience will be influenced by a variety of factors: the relationship you had with the person who died; the circumstances surrounding the death; your emotional support system and religious background. As a result of these factors, you grieve in your own special way. Don’t compare your experience with other people. Consider a “one day at a time” approach that allows you to grieve at your own pace.

Steps To Recovery

Get busy - Do something that will keep your mind and heart preoccupied.

  • Join a support group
  • Accept invitations from family and friends
  • Do volunteer work
  • Read a book

Rid yourself of any guilt - Try not to dwell on what you could have done better.

Do what you enjoy - Consider hobbies, make plans for an activity, excercise, spend time with friends

Help others

  • Try taking up a cause for someone
  • Right a wrong
  • Work with the poor or needy
  • Cook a meal for someone

Make a list of the positive things in your life

Pray - Believe in your heart that the Lord's presence is of comfort.



Grief

Grief is never easy. It arises because someone of value has been lost and we are faced with emptiness. Grief is normal and that knowledge is comforting, but it does not eliminate the pain. In the midst of your loss, the good news is that you don’t have to suffer alone. We are here to help, to listen and to walk with you as you move forward.

Grief Support is a ministry of Aldersgate Church that will help identify the basic emotional reactions of grief. Some reactions may include:

  • Shock . . . “I can’t believe he’s gone.”
  • Strong Emotion . . . “Why? Why? Why?”
  • Depression and Loneliness . . . “I don’t want to go on.”
  • Fear and Panic . . . “What am I going to do now?”
  • Guilt . . . “If only I had…”
  • Anger . . . “Why did you leave me?”
  • Apathy . . . “I just don’t care.”
  • Adjustment . . . “Maybe there is life after all.”

Meeting Times

Grief Support begins April 2, 2008, at 7:00 p.m. and continues for five weeks. Each Wednesday evening we will have a time of information, a time of sharing, and time of prayer, and a time of fellowship. Additional Grief Help sessions are scheduled for the Summer and Fall of 2008. Contact Patsy Schubert at 696-1376 or patsy@aldersgatecs.org for more information.

As part of the grieving process, we will explore each of these stages together. We will:

  • Accept the reality of the loss
  • Experience the pain of grief
  • Adjust to the world without our loved one
  • Reinvest ourselves in life