Flourish in the Unexpected

Can we flourish after loss? Is there a way to not just survive when our world turns upside down but to truly thrive again?

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!

Get Flourish in the Unexpected here!