So many times, we as Christian women, desire to be the Hands and Feet of God in the lives of other people when they are going through a time of crisis or loss of a loved one.
We desire to be able to offer a tangible gesture of love and care; we want to be able to ease their pain and lessen their loss. We want to be a support and encouragement to them in a positive way.
We worry about doing or saying the wrong thing. Sometimes that fear keeps us from reaching out at all.
Lorrie Flem, from Eternal Encouragement, has written a book that addresses these concerns and desires to help and heal the pain in the hearts of our family members or friends. It is called, Healing Hearts with Helping Hands.
As a member of the Gabby Moms, I was given a copy of this book to review - - and I found it to be full of ideas to use to reach out to others in a meaningful way when they need support.
The book starts out with reminding us of how we can minister to others through our presence and attitudes. We should listen to and pray for our loved ones who are hurting. The greatest gift we can given them is a supportive shoulder and listening ear, the gift of our time.
We can also be a blessing in taking part of preparing and providing meals for a family when they are in crisis. I loved how Lorrie included some recipes in the book too! (I actually got very hungry when reading them and had to make myself a snack!)
We can also minster to others without food - through our acts of service such as offering to run errands, pick up some groceries, and taking the kids of the family on an outing for a while. We need to be mindful that someone who is grieving may find it hard to ask for this type of help and it may be something that is needed but hard to ask someone to do for them.
In being mindful of their needs, we can anticipate and seek out special ways to meet them. We can be a blessing to them in their time of loss and grief.
Probably the most important tip I will remember from this book is the importance of offering and giving a short-term gesture of care, along with remembering to be considerate of their needs and the grieving process over the long-term. After all of the meals are eaten, the extra dishes are taken away, the flowers are dead, and the sympathy cards are put aside, that's when the person in grief is still in a huge need of someone to be aware of the loss and reach out to them.
This book is going to prove to be a wonderful resource for me as I refer to it when I mean to reach out to a loved one in pain. I know that you will gain insight and appreciate the resources inside it as well.
You can order it on Amazon or from the Eternal Encouragement site here.
*Between May 1-3, you can get a copy of this book for only $.99 on Amazon!*
You can buy and read Kindle books, even if you don't have a Kindle! To download the free app needed to read Kindle books, go here.
If you want to learn more about Eternal Encouragement and be able to benefit from a free subscription to Lorrie's articles, go here to learn more!
* Disclaimer: I received a copy of the e-book in exchange for an honest review. *
