Surviving the Wilderness of Grief

Written by LifeWay.com Staff

After a devastating loss, many feel lost in a wilderness of emotions. Obstacles of anger, sadness and grief make us stumble on our path to recovery. Fear pervades our hearts and our senses of direction are cluttered with confusion. How do we successfully travel through the dangerous grief-laden wilderness without being overburdened with loneliness?

"Take only memories. Leave only footprints," suggests successful counselor and God @ Ground Zero author "Chaplain Ray" Giunta. "We always leave something of ourselves after a loss, don’t we? Some leave joy and others vow to leave their hearts. But we can continue to venture on the road to recovery and choose to discover what hides behind the bushes."

In The Grief Recovery Workbook (Integrity, January 2003), Giunta encourages us not to run from the rustling bushes of fear, but to explore the anger and fear that hide. Giunta acts as our wilderness guide and compassionate counselor through grief recovery by sharing inspiring real-life anecdotes, biblical wisdom and personal insight. Through this self-help and small group book, he empowers readers to look at the grief journey through new eyes. A unique feature of this workbook is the interactive CD that allows Giunta to share his heart of compassion with the readers, encouraging those who are grieving to reach out to others.

The hands-on workbook suggests five necessary tools for the journey: a plan, a personal loss inventory, a relationship survey, an actions survey and, above all, a faith in God. The workbook also provides a place for reflection and journaling at the end of each chapter to expunge the thorns of pain and grief.

For twelve years, the crisis seminars and resources of We Care Ministries have touched and changed many lives–lives that had been devastated beyond hope. According to Giunta, we don’t have to be survivor experts to successfully maneuver the wilderness of grief. It is possible to transform heartbreak into hope and pain into purpose. Using the Grief Recovery Workbook can help the hurting reader to turn that corner and find comfort and strength, health and wholeness.

Giunta has a long history of helping people recover from grief and loss, even in the most desperate of circumstances. He was at Ground Zero just hours after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. In his book God @ Ground Zero, Giunta details his sixty-eight-day mission to comfort the grieving and the weary and profoundly portrays the healing hand of God during those trying months following the tragedy.

"Anyone, everyone, can be a 'chaplain' on some level to the survivors of crises in his or her spheres of influence," states Giunta. "No social services group can meet all the needs of the traumatized. I decided to volunteer and create We Care Ministries, an organization that provides compassionate crisis care to families and communities."

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