Almost 21 years ago, I was a grieving mother in desperate need of help! We also had several others in our church family who had recently experienced the death of loved ones. I approached Walt “Nifty” Wilson, our Associate Pastor of Family Ministry at the time, and told him he needed to do something to help us and asked if he would start a grief support group. He responded he really didn’t know anything about establishing a grief ministry but if I would help him then he would do it. Selfishly, I agreed. And well...the rest is history!

Every Monday night in the basement of our church, about a dozen of us gathered around a table and walked out our journeys through grief together. It was out of that group, I began to find healing and eventually hope to not just survive, but to actually learn to live again. It was also out of that Grief and Loss Support Group God began to call me into ministry.

Since that time, God has grown my ministry beyond only helping people with their grief in the aftermath of the death of a love one but to include all sorts of issues, struggles and hurts. However, I continue to have a special place in my heart where grief is concerned because it is where God became very real and personal to me and it was out of my own grief God began to transform my life. It’s only fitting my first official small group as part of the Isaiah 61 Ministries would be a Grief Support Group to begin this Fall.

This Grief Support Group will focus on healing and recovery following the death of a loved one using a 2-prong approach. First, the Grief Support Group will provide a safe community for a person to share openly and confidentially the personal aspects of their journey through grief and to be encouraged with the fact they are not alone. Second, the Group will provide information and education as to what to expect in the grief process and how to better navigate its various aspects.

This Group is for those 18 and over, male or female, who have experienced the death of a loved one. It begins Tuesday, September 10, at 7pm and will run for 8 weeks. Space is limited to 10 people so please register through email teresa@i61ministries.net, messenger or at 540-487-4619.

I certainly don’t have all the answers and I cannot fix your broken heart, but I can help point you to the One who does and can!!!