When my husband died unexpectedly and I became a sudden young widow and single mom of seven children, I couldn’t imagine how to walk through grief. But deep inside, I longed not simply to survive but to thrive again.
The crises that turn our world upside down come unannounced. They settle right over the plans and dreams we’d scrawled into planners and calendars. They topple our expections and overturn our daily rhythms
They leave us stunned, with sorrow that’s palpable in our eating, sleeping and breathing. Loss ushers in new fears because if this happened, the other shoe just may drop as well. We feel vulnerable, fragile, and completely incapable of handling the grueling emotions and massive change of loss.
As I navigated all this in the wake of Dan’s death, I experienced deep despair. I was trying to best to make the most of life for my children, especially, but I wondered whether just have to live the rest of my life with second best.
I was pretty sure I’d survive. Lots of people survive the devastation of grief or divorce or a difficult diagnosis.
But I didn’t want to live out the rest of my days just surviving. I longed to feel real joy again. To see and marvel at beauty. To have moments of exquisite goodness. I wanted to smile again.
In my own grief, I’ve seen that God enables and intends for us to flourish not just depsite the loss but in it and after it.
I’ve put together a free workbook called Flourish: Find Your Footing, Tame Your Fear and Bloom in Unexpected Difficulty. This study is based on Jeremiah 17:7-8:
But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord
whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.
Flourish in the Unexpected is a printable workbook that will walkyou through four steps in Jeremiah 17 to flourish after loss. Because life can bloom again, friend.
You can become steady when life rocks, find deep nourishment when life is barren, disarm fear as you face the unknown and bud and blossom even in the hard.
This 4-day workbook will walk you through each verse of Jeremiah 17:7-8 to unpack life-changing truths and see how to flourish in the unexpected. I pray this free resource blesses you mightily!
Sonia Avila says
Trynna find my way back an have a closer bond with God.
Mary Hancock says
I need something to keep me spiritually closer to God at this time…thank you…but I don’t want to have to keep ordering things..
Lisa Appelo says
Mary, no ordering involved. This is free and sent to your inbox. You can either read it online or print it to write on.
Deborah says
Going thru really difficult things right now. So difficult to process. Holding on to God. I know He is good. Trying to get my body and mind to relax and press through to back to thrive even with the worst case information a parent could learn. Thank you for praying for our family.
Jean McEntire says
Thank you.
Beverly says
Lisa, I just read your article – Surrendering our children to God means surrendering their entitled lives.
WRITTEN BY
Lisa Appelo
PUBLISHED ON
May 18, 2021
What a prefectly enlightening, concise, but chok-ful of transformative little ‘pearls’.
My circumstances are very different to your parenting article, but for some reason I was drawn to it while reading Jim Denison’s article. I know now it was God sending me to get confirmation of a pre-dawn discussion I had with Him today. The following excerpt “… I realized this too was something I needed to surrender. I needed to let go of the life I wanted…” hit me like a lightening bolt, for though I committed to Him then, I have lingered during the day.
Thank you for this article, which our heavenly Father used indirectly to remind me of my committment.
I am not on instagram but will continue to follow your website.