None

Susan, your host, welcomes Kate J. Meyer to today’s episode. Kate is an author, a public speaker, a professional counselor, and an ordained minister. Kate is the author of The Red Couch, a novel just out in the summer of 2021 about missed expectations and seeing how the past doesn’t define but informs you. Kate’s book: Faith Doesn’t Erase Grief is a get-help-now manual on loss and grief at the intersections of faith and psychology, helping spiritual readers see loss more clearly. A fan of NaNoRiMo writing goals, she lives in western Michigan with her husband and two chocolate labs, Rocky and Duke.

Key Takeaways:

  • Kate shares her grief story
  • We never know when we are going to need to know about grief and how to navigate it.
  • People need permission to grieve in their own particular way.
  • Kate and Susan talk about how society imposes ridiculous time periods for grieving.
  • Our grief experiments with different changes as life go on.
  • Susan shares her experience this fall, being the first one alone after her husband died and now that her daughter went to college.
  • In most situations in life avoiding pain is ok, but not with grief. While grieving, we have to walk through our pain to be able to release it.
  • Susan confesses she was angry at God.
  • We are allowed to question and express our anger.
  • God created our emotions, He won’t be surprised by them.
  • Things just are - we assign value to them.
  • Grief is a whole being experience.
  • Kate shares her inspiration and hopes in her book: Faith Doesn’t Erase Grief.
  • Faith and grief can coexist; you can be angry at God and still keep your faith.
  • Doubt is an essential part of faith.
  • Kate shares her advice for those who feel they have lost their faith: Hope is a cushion, it doesn’t fix the problem, but it helps in sustaining and supporting us.

Resources

Tendrilsofgrief.com

Email Susan: susan@tendrilsofgrief.com

Meet Kate J. Meyer

Find more about Kate on Instagram and Facebook

Visit katejmeyer.com

Faith Doesn't Erase Grief: Embracing the Experience and Finding Hope, Kate J. Meyer