Giving Back…..

Monday night I took a step towards paying back for some of the wonderful things that I have been able to utilize to help me move forward through the loss I have felt since the death of my husband in 2011.  And I am so thankful that I am going to be able to give back and perhaps help someone else to begin to take steps forward through their grief.

This past January, I found an ad in the paper for a group called GriefShare.  I had seen several GriefShare groups in the bulletin boards of the local community paper, but they were meeting on nights that I already had commitments or they were far enough away that I did not want to make the commute with the current cost of gas.  This one was just a five minute drive, at the local Mennonite Church.

I found the faith based support group quite helpful.  It combines videos that have experts in various areas discussing loss and grief and how to handle the things we go through.  I learned that we all grieve differently and at different paces, there is no right or wrong way to grieve.  By the end of the 13 weekly sessions, I felt more positive about things and more interested in things around me and more adventurous to try new and different things.

Since I have been going to services at that church in recent weeks, I was asked by the leaders of the GriefShare project if I would be interested in assisting with the new set so sessions that they are planning to start in January 2013.  I was honored and pleased to be able to pay back and pay forward at the same time.  We had our first meeting Monday night.  The leaders are happy to have three of us who ‘graduated’ from the first group assisting them.  We may do nothing more than just show up with snacks or we may help lead small discussion groups, but we will be helping.  We will be making a difference in someone’s life.

Life is good.