Author Wanda Weathersby shares how she navigates the challenges she's faced on her grief journey in the loss of her son, Calvin.  She offers encouragement from her journey and talks about her book, "Say Their Name." You can reach Wanda:Website:  www.Forhim36@comEmail: Forhim36@yahoo,comInstagram: @wandaweathersbyauthor

Author Rosemary Sherrod shares the fifteen-year journey of faith and deep agony as her son Qe'Vonte battled cancer and died at 23. She encourages listeners as she tells how God shined His light in the middle of her darkness.She talks about her debut book Believing In The Dark: Embracing What Is Blooming in Your Darkness and offers encouragement to those who are grieving.You can reach Rosemary or purchase her book at:  www.believinginthedark.comrosemarysherrod.comIG: @believinginthedarkFB: Believinginthedark

When you’re grieving, hurting, sad and in intense pain, you want relief from the pain. You might ask yourself how long am I going to feel like this?  This episode will look deeper into the answer to this question. Everybody grieves differently. People who experience the same loss, and within the same family will grieve differently. My husband and I grieve differently.Don’t give in to the pressure from others who are judging or imposing their timeline or rushing you to get through grief. Remember they are not the authority on your grief. You are.If you’re moving through grief faster, slower, or differently don’t compare yourself with anyone else. You have to follow your unique path and not put unrealistic expectations on yourself about how long it should take for you to move through your grief.  Your process will take as long as it takes As you move through grief at your own unique pace, your love for your departed one will move with you.   We have to help ourselves move forward by giving ourselves permission to feel the fullness of our grief. Feel the pain, sit with it breathe with it, wrestle with it. But Go through the process. Don’t resist it. or suppress it. Allow ourselves to cry when we need to cry, to release the pain, confusion, agony anger, guilt, and all the other emotions when may come up. That’s part of doing your grief work and know that it’s okay to laugh and express those emotions as well. Don’t feel guilty about those when they come up That’s how over time, you turn your pain into love.  It’s that love that will carry you into the next day and the day after that, and the next.  The reality is that there is no timeline for how long we will grieve our loss.  Our grief will take as long as it takes.You can connect with Gwendolyn Burton at https://gwendolynoburton.comFollow us on Instagram: @gwendolynoburtonEmail us at [email protected]

 In this episode, we talk about some of the things that bring doubt to our grieving process and cause us to question if there’s a right or wrong way to grieve? Grieving is a gradual process and over time it will show up in different ways. Because it’s so far-reaching it can bring up reactions, responses, and questions about how we’re navigating our grieving process.  Grief is a very personal experience, and how you grieve depends on things like your life history, your personality, your coping style, and your faith. It’s a personal experience and no one can tell you that your grieving process is right or wrong.Some people believe that if they follow one of the different models or stages of grief that they are going through grief the right way.  When we don’t follow those stages, go in and out of stages, we believe there’s something wrong with us or our grieving process.Sometimes we expect our grief to manifest in certain ways and we put ourselves in a box or put parameters on how our grief will manifest.We start to judge ourselves and this can lead to being critical of ourselves and judging ourselves and even unhealthy behavior.Be patient with the process and let your grief unfold naturally. If you need to, talk with someone-a trusted friend, pastor, or a counselor about your grief.  Your grief journey and grief process are your own – they’re specific to you and your well-being. Have faith and trust the process. Your way of grieving is RIGHT for you and your history, your relationship to your loss, your coping style, and your personal needs.You can connect with Gwendolyn Burton at https://gwendolynoburton.comFollow us on Instagram: @gwendolynoburtonEmail us at [email protected]

Living with grief and loss is one of the most difficult experiences most people endure. After the sudden death of her twenty-six-year-old son, Gwendolyn found that initiating and engaging in open and honest dialogue about living with grief, helped her to understand and embrace her own grief journey. In this inaugural episode, join host Gwendolyn Burton as she begins the conversation on grief and loss.People are living with so much grief that they simply do not know how to talk about it or we do not talk about the reality of living with grief enough. We’re not only going to talk about it here, but we’re going to get the tools and support that we need to move forward.  We need to have the conversation in an open, honest and transparent way in order to dispel some of the myths about grief and how living with the death of someone we love impacts us. Some people view grief as so common that they group everybody together and think that everyone grieves, responds to grief, and moves through the grief journey in the same way. All grief is unique to that person, painful to them, and important to them. I was blessed to have people who showed up for me in the way that they could, and I appreciate them so much. But that didn’t take away my grief.I had to find the courage to do my own grief work to move forward. I needed hope to do that and doing so was a process within itself.  When I found a community of people who I could relate to, and who shared in the same struggles that I did, I was encouraged, and day by day, I found that I could make it through my grief.  I want you to know that you are not alone and just like those emotions of grief are real, so is the ability to move forward to embrace life and live again.  You can connect with Gwendolyn Burton at https://gwendolynoburton.comJoin us on Instagram: @gwendolynoburtonEmail us at [email protected]

We all face challenges in life that can stop us in our tracks, strip us of hope, and hinder our ability to move forward. Join author, speaker, and Certified Grief Educator, Gwendolyn Burton, as she shares personal experiences, and interviews guests who’ll help you navigate the rocky terrain through grief and loss.   Each episode will cover topics that provide valuable information, compassionate insight, and practical tools to help guide you on your journey to embracing and living life after loss. Connect at https://www.gwendolynobuton.com