Grief and Gratitude: Our Story
Colleen & Corey Gilchrist
3-27-22
Prayer: Use us as instruments of your peace and that our words would be heard with kindness and mercy. Prevent the enemy from deceiving and distracting us.
Our background: We’ve been Villagers for a long time, me since 2007, Colleen longer than I. We’ve both been on the leadership team and our experiences with grief and gratitude. We will not be talking about new content but reviewing what has been discussed and our testimony of grief and gratitude in our marriage. I work as a hospice chaplain professional. So, when I have helped people feel their grief and express this…this is normal to feel heaviness during loss. Loss of life or anything: even a miscommunication with a friend or feeling unheard or unseen by your partner; Grief all comes out no matter what. When people say “I’m fine” this is not the case: it must find its way out. I’ve been studying grief for a long time in school, etc. I found it’s not that helpful to analyze it. It is helpful to use this info to affirm my experience and to feel this in a community, helping ID what you’re feeling.
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