Grace in the Grieving

Coffee Table Book: Senior Project

In these pages are the interviews of those who have lost someone. Whether their loss was tragic or drawn out, the words you will soon read are personal and intimate. As you flip through, you are let into the secret place of someone’s thoughts and reflections throughout the years that follow loss. My hope for you as the reader is that you would hear their voices and empathize with them in a way you have not before. 

This publication is a companion piece to Jerry Sittser’s A Grace Disguised. When my family was first given Sittser’s book, the book sat untouched for years. When I eventually chose to read the first few pages, Sittser’s story struck me in a way that no other piece of literature has before. His explanation of the Gospel’s place in your personal grief was like breathing in fresh air for the first time. Whether you read this piece before or after you read A Grace Disguised, it is my hope that you will pick it up one day, too. 

In the research stage of this project, I spoke to a therapist that uses art with her clients. She drew out for me a long squiggly line, much like the line to the right of this page. She drew it from the top of the page to the bottom. Every now and then the line had breaks that split it up. These breaks slowly got bigger and bigger. She said that these gaps represented a break from the intense emotions that come with grieving. Slowly these breaks became longer and more frequent just how breaks from the intense emotions lift more as time goes on in the griever’s life. The line never stops completely, it is always part of your story, but the emotions become less overwhelming. 

As you read through these pages—follow these lines—you will experience this progression as well, encountering both darkness and light, chaos and structure. Take in these words with weight and compassion, and continue reading. 

All quotes are from the following source: Sittser, Jerry. A Grace Disguised. Michigan: Zondervan; 2004.