Day 237 - Steps Toward Closure

365 daily emails to help you through the grieving process Grief support groups: Click here to find a GriefShare group near you. If you would like to find a group for a friend or relative, try our Search Page. Want to read ahead or resend a previous daily email? Click Here Steps Toward Closure Day 237 Closure is crucial to your grief journey, and at some point you must take action to help bring it about. Start by identifying the person, memories, objects, and emotions you have been hanging on to too tightly. Here are suggestions to help you come to a place where you can release these. One idea is to make a scrapbook of memories. Another idea is to do volunteer work in memory of your loved one. You could also give some of your loved one's possessions to a needy family. Virgil found a way to release his feelings after his wife died: "She died in April, and on Mother's Day the kids wanted to take flowers and go to her grave and just express how they felt. So we sat around the grave site and shared our feelings." Releasing is not forgetting; it is the act of setting free. Your loved one was such a blessing to you. Cherish the memories, but pass the blessing on to someone else now. "Freely you have received, freely give" (Matthew 10:8). Lord, I am ready to experience this freedom. All that I have been hanging on to, I release in Your name. Show me where to go from here. Amen. Grieving with Hope This GriefShare-based book contains short, topical chapters addressing issues that grieving people face but are often hesitant to mention to others; it gently guides people to determine whether they're grieving in a way that leads to hope and ultimate healing. Look for Grieving with Hope by Samuel Hodges and Kathy Leonard at a local or online bookstore or at griefshare.org/hope. If you would like to recommend these daily emails to a friend, please click here and choose one of the options under Share. For more information about GriefShare, including how to sign up for these daily emails, please click here. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2003-2013 by The Church Initiative, Inc., All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without explicit permission in writing from Church Initiative. You subscribed to this daily email through www.griefshare.org. We value your privacy! We will never give, sell, rent, or otherwise share your email or personal information with any other organization — EVER. To remove this email address from further mailings Click Here while connected to the internet. If you have any problems or concerns, please contact dailyemailsupport@griefshare.org. GriefShare 250 S. Allen Rd. Wake Forest, NC 27587 (800) 395-5755