The gospel is the good news of Christ’s redemptive plan to deliver us out of Satan’s grip in the world around us. It is the good news that Jesus stepped into humanity to become the sacrifice for our sins to rightfully redeem us from this fallen world. Here is what I call the ABC’s of the Gospel because they tell … Continue reading →
When a loved one dies, the love that you’ve had for them or with them does not die. Love and the relationship that you have had does not die with the person. You still carry that love with you and that is the reason you are grieving the loss. With the person no longer available for you to express your … Continue reading →
In the process of grieving, there is no time frame assigned or one-size fits all approach to assure a healthy grieving process. There are elements to healthy grieving that one can be intentionally incorporate into their grieving experience, and that is what I want to share here. I want to share some objectives to aim for as you move forward … Continue reading →
I want to address a topic that I find myself dealing with from time to time as a hospital chaplain and that is notifying children of a family death. It is not uncommon for children to be shielded from the condition of a dying parent or family member in the hospital. An unresponsive patient with breathing tubes and monitor wires … Continue reading →
In her 1969 book, “On Death and Dying,” Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, a Swiss American psychiatrist, introduced us to what we now know as five stages of grief. When she originally penned these stages they were called the five stages of death. At the time, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross was working with terminally ill patients and she cited these five emotions as what were … Continue reading →
Previously I shared a post on Styles of Grief but here I want to share a post on Types of Grief. I’m taking my lead from several sources that have referenced multiple types of grief. So I am going to yield to their wisdom, and am going to use the terms used by Liz Kelly, a licensed social worker in … Continue reading →
Sitting with families who are hearing the bad news of a loved-ones death is a near daily occurrence for me, as a hospital chaplain at a trauma center. Since transferring to this trauma hospital and having this regular occurrence of witnessing people’s reaction to a death notification, my curiosity of grief styles has gripped my interest. The way people respond … Continue reading →
It wasn’t long into my hospital chaplaincy career that I figured out that physicians do not like notifying a family that their patient loved-one has died. I’m mainly referring to a patient who has come into the Emergency Department because of a trauma like a motor vehicle crash or a cardiac arrest. Typically the family of these patients are led … Continue reading →