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by Robyn L. Bradley (Author)
Bereavement is a shattering experience, a life-shaking sorrow over the death of a loved one. Plugged into that sorrow are other emotions. "Picking up the pieces" or "putting your life back together" takes courage and determination. It raises questions. How do we navigate through this grief and pain, so it is a good mourning? Will I ever be whole again? Will I ever laugh again? Will life ever be the same? The short answer to the last question is "no, it won't," but "yes, over time the intensity of grief will lessen, and you will find meaning and joy in life again." It is possible to have a good mourning when we know that there will be a good morning beyond the grave.
Robyn Bradley documents her journey after the sudden and unexpected loss of her husband Brad in May 2020 as a means of processing her grief. This process was both cathartic and bittersweet with memories, but it was so much more than that, for it aided her healing and gave her a daily purpose. She determined to grieve well so that it would be a good mourning. She shares how having faith gave her strength to endure, and how conversations with her husband during COVID-19 and his mantras over the years resounding in her ears gave her courage to move on. Interwoven into this journey are experiences and anecdotes of Brad, of a life well-lived and well-loved, of memories in their marriage and family and the diversity of their life together that eased her heartache. She speaks of the groundswell of emotional, practical and prayer support that carried her, during the months that followed his death, to a place on the other side of intense grief.
Grief is confronting. It reminds us of our own fragility and mortality. How we manage it, Robyn maintains, depends on how we view life beyond the grave. If we have a godly perspective of what happens when we die it makes it easier to grieve healthily and resiliently, for we have an assurance and an eternal hope, grounded in our faith in Jesus Christ. This hope is available to all who ask. Her prayer for others experiencing grief is that it, too, might be a healthy grief, and that over time they may know renewed hope and a new day; and for those who walk beside them to know how infinitely necessary and special they are in the healing process and restoration of those who mourn.
