A Grace Disguised

I just finished a book Kari lent me, A Grace Disguised-How the Soul Grows Through Loss. It is a wonderfully written book by a man who lost his mother, wife, & daughter in one car accident. He goes through the different areas of grief felt when losing a loved one. He explains the humanistic feelings, that they are real and natural. He also comes about it from a Christian's perspective. He does well at reminding the reader that there is an afterlife and that we'll meet again soon.
In the book, he quotes other authors. Peter Kreeft wrote, "Galaxies revolve and dinosaurs breed and rain falls and people fall in love and uncles smoke cheap cigars and people lose their jobs and we all die -- all for our good, the finished product, God's work of art, the kingdom of heaven. There's nothing outside heaven except hell. Earth is not outside heaven; it is heaven's workshop, heaven's womb." Isn't that a beautiful description?
I had quoted Jerry Sittser before when he talks about our lives being movies until the person dies. Then they become a snapshot in our memory bank, never again to be videoed. He says that it's ok to have regrets, all relationships are flawed. It's ok to be angry and to blame. It's ok to feel that amputation of self, when the people who are in your lives make you who you are, are now gone. (i.e. he reports still feeling a husband, even though his wife is gone.) But you cannot continue to feel like that. You have to go through those feeling and then recover from them. And this includes all kinds of loss.
One quote I personally liked was, since the passing of my love one, life is a little less sweet, but death is a little less bitter. You do not get "over" or "recover" from the loss of a loved on, but you grow and change. Hence "A Grace Disguised." I highly recommend this book.
ISBN #: 0310219310