Recent Articles
04/14/2020
Editor’s note. The following essay is an edited transcript of a spoken testimonial Pastor Gordon Wiersma gave to the Hope Church congregation as part of the church’s Reconciliation series. It is reprinted with permission. My Dad, Jack Wiersma, died in 2017. My Dad died after 81 years of life – after several years of health […]
04/20/2020
Guest Post by Susan VandePol Their visits didn’t look at all like what I would have thought they should look like — if I had any time to think about it. “They” are the ones who came, the ones who showed up to care for us. And none of them really knew what to do. […]
03/03/2020
Note from Karen: At Wisdom of the Wounded, we know that children grieve differently than adults. That’s why we’re very fortunate that organizations like Ele’s Place offer programs for grieving children and their supporters. On a recent tour of Ele’s Place-West Michigan, we learned about their Memory Pillow activity. What a wonderful way to help […]
Whenever my mother was anxious or angry or just feeling low, she would go outside and dig in the dirt. As she planted flowers or moved flowering shrubs, her spirits would slowly lift. Dirt and flowers were her therapy. Her favorite outdoor flower was pansies. To this day, when I see the sweet faces on […]
02/21/2020
Do young children experience grief? Dr. Alan Wolfelt is a grief counselor who says, “Any child old enough to experience love is old enough to grieve.” Even though they will show their grief differently than adults do, very young children do feel loss. Here’s how you can help a young child grieve. Youngsters ages three […]
11/14/2019
Christmas is an especially difficult holiday when there is an empty chair at the table following the death of a loved one. One of the deep needs of a grieving person is to know that others are walking with her on her grief journey. To acknowledge a friend’s grief is a gift that many won’t […]
03/07/2019
Years ago, my husband Larry and I set off on a grand adventure: we spent 14 months on a 32-foot sailboat, traveling the open ocean. (With our two small children aboard, I might add!) It certainly was an exciting time. When I started my ministry, I realized that life on the water helped me understand […]
