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Lesson OneTypes of Loss3 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson TwoGrieving After Death3 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson ThreeLoss of Relationships3 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson FourLoss in Covid Times3 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson FiveHope for Those Who Have Suffered Loss3 Activities1 Assessment
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Course Wrap-UpCourse Completion1 Activity1 Assessment
Participants 178
Discussion Questions
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In this lesson, Dr. Welch says, “There is no right way to grieve.” Do you agree? Have you ever seen someone grieve in a way that you thought was “wrong”? Explain.
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I do agree, “There is no right or wrong way to grieve’.
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Indeed what has gone has been gone. You can’t bring it back but only be comforted
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My friend Henry. He lost his wife. went to grief share. He volunteered all the time. His son had diabetes. We was able to talk about this subject cause my sister and brother both have diabetes. His son had it bad. Kidneys failing, loss of limbs just like my brother and sister. So, we pretty much listened to each other. Was there for each other at church and messaging. Well, his son passed away and I wondered why I hadn’t heard from him. My friend asked me. You were close to Henry. I said I haven’t heard or seen him. She told me he committed suicide. I wish I could have been there for him.
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I believe everyone grieves differently, each with a different level of love. My grandparents passed away, and I experienced grief, but deeper grief than that of my cousins. I feel that my grief was deeper because of the love that I shared, the memories that I held, and the close relationship that was built. When my mother passed, I was distraught, experienced chaos and confusion, and I was overcome with anger. Some people withdraw, requiring solitude, others mourn in pain. Yes, there is a difference in grieving.
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I have not seen any “out of the ordinary” ways someone would go through or would express grief. However, I have seen people experience grief over a significant period of time (years), and did not appear to ever be able to move past it.
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Reflect on the C. S. Lewis quote: “No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.” In what ways do you think grief feels like fear? How does that make coping with grief/loss difficult?
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This is the first time I have thought about grief and fear. There is a fear about the unknown and not knowing what my world will look like in the future. I recently went through an unexpected retirement from my job and I feel that the sudden loss of my job and things I was familiar with does scare me. I feel like I lost myself and I can now see an element of fear in that.
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We have an illusion that we are in control. When loss comes we are faced with the fact that we are not in control of anything. Fear of the unknown and loss seem to be common and cause like reactions.
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I think grief feels like fear. When I lost my father, I was young. And something fear came to me about the future that made me so scared to live to be continuing without my father. I felt the need for someone to guide me through. I was still a baby Christian at that time.
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Sometimes when experiencing loss you come to a place you never known and because of that you don’t always know how to deal, where to turn to, who can understand , all these things and more make coping difficult.
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There are many ways in which grief feels like fear.
Grief blindsides a person just as fear does. Even if one expects the death, the reality of it can hit unexpectedly hard. Both grief and fear affect our physical bodies, our thinking, our emotions, and our relationship with God. Our physical bodies tense and eating becomes hard because our energy is diverted to surviving, just as it is if we are afraid.
We can’t think rationally and find making decisions difficult, our emotions are out of sync, and we may question God’s provision or protection, just as we may do when we are fearful.
This response to grief makes coping with grief or loss difficult as we are below par in so many areas of our life. We feel captive to grief and in a struggle to free ourselves from captivity.
