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Grief Counseling is available for those in need of spiritual and emotional support during difficult times of grieving. This group takes place on an as needed basis. Contact the church office or Julie Miehe to inquire.

We also post weekly healing meditations here to help during difficult times where ever you are:

Weekly Healing Meditations:

“The worst lies are the lies we tell ourselves. We live in denial of what we do, even what we think. We do this because we’re afraid.”—Richard Bach

Denial is one of the most misunderstood aspects of the grief journey. Temporarily, denial, like shock and numbness, is a great gift. It helps us survive the early days and weeks after the death of someone loved.

As we begin to confront the reality of the death and embrace the pain in doses though, our denial should begin to break down. And when that happens, we often feel even worse for some period of time. That’s hard to take but avoiding or “stuffing” our true thoughts and feelings is even more terrible because it inevitably leads to stagnation, depression, anxiety, addictive behaviors, and other life-smothering symptoms. If we’re afraid to feel, we can end up feeling worse.

So let’s all do the denial dance. Deny, confront, deny, confront. I sometimes call it evade-encounter. This healthy back-and-forth doses us with reality and then gives us a much-needed break.

I can deny, set aside, and postpone now and then as long as I’m encountering in between. I’ll put my dancing shoes on.

From Grief One Day at a Time by Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.