"Healing, Hope & Wholeness"

These are three beautiful words when you are walking your journey of grief. Recently a dear friend of mine wrote an amazing book titled "Healing, Hope & Wholeness". Through this book she courageously shares her journey of finding hope after the loss of her mother. I love how she is honest and open in her healing journey. Even though her loss is different than mine and our stories are very different, I found myself relating to so much of what she wrote in her book. I would like to share a few passages from her book that really impacted and inspired me:

"There are good and bad days-- you have to take them all, whether you want to or not. Because all of them make you stronger, make you thankful, make you rely on the Lord, and make you you. The beginning of healing, hope and wholeness is accepting that you will have multiple ups and downs and to give yourself grace."

"Ultimately, I was grieving the loss of the future. What I once pictured nonchalantly wasn't possible anymore."

"After a heart has been broken, I picture it being in hundreds of puzzle pieces. With every vulnerable moment, healthy reflection, moments of perseverance, verbal processing, some good cries, some acknowledgement, the Lord's healing, and hard decisions,the puzzle pieces of your broken heart start coming together. One by one, your heartbeats become fiercer. One by one, you start to realize that you don't want to survive-- you want to thrive. I don't see the pieces ever running out. There will always be pieces to mend and healing to walk through. But maybe the pieces are getting smaller and your drive is getting greater?"

This last passage really struck some chords in my heart. Maybe I'm not "there" yet but some pieces are starting to fall back into place... It really is a day by day, moment by moment journey. There is so much pain and heartache in this world and I found this book to be a light. She tells her story with hope and grace and I highly recommend it to anyone who has loved and lost.

Check out Ceci's blog or purchase her book at http://hhwbook.com/