Widows, Grief and Finding Hope, with Anne-Marie Lockmyer

Finding God in Our Pain

My guest today is a grief specialist, she is certified in critical incident stress debriefing, a certified trauma-integrative practitioner, an 8-time award-winning author on grief, and the founder of The Grief & Trauma Healing Network. Anne-Marie Lockmyer has quite a well-rounded education on grief but her passion is to help grieving widows.

She’s a widow herself, so my conversation with Anne-Marie is both from her personal experience as well as her professional ability to help widows process and heal. We had a great conversation that I’m excited to share with you!

Some of the things we talked about were: what does it mean to be blessed in a Christian context when in fact we’re not exempt from pain and suffering; the complexity of grief (that it does affect the brain and the body); giving yourself permission to grieve, to be angry, to laugh, to have joy. Grief is a roller coaster at best so the focus is to care for yourself as you journey through.

We talked about healing and that it is possible. Doesn’t mean you forget about your loved one or that you’re not honoring them anymore if you’re not sad. It doesn’t mean that your life will magically return to what it used to be. Sadly, it will never be the same. It will be different, but it can still be beautiful.

As Anne-Marie shares her experience of unexpectedly losing her husband Mark and it happens while she’s out of the country. I add that because I personally think that not being able to get to your loved one at such a critical time adds yet another layer of trauma to the trauma. Her husband passed from a brain aneurysm, this not only leaves her blindsided and numb but they have a special needs son who responded to his father like no one else.

When Anne-Marie received word over the phone, in a foreign country that her world had been ripped apart and would never be the same, she asked one thing of God. "God, if I have to go through this, may I glorify you, honor Mark and impact lives?"

As you listen to the message on her heart, or visit her website, check out her widows retreat and engage her extensive resources, I think you’ll see that God has honored her request. God has taken the very same thing that evil intended to destroy Anne-Marie with and did something really beautiful.

Let’s listen in so that we might find God in the midst of pain and suffering.

Live Loved and Thrive! @alifeofthrive.com

Connect with Anne-Marie:
Email: [e-mail]
Website: Grief & Trauma Healing Network
https://griefandtraumahealing.com
Free online grief support site: MyGriefCare.com
https://www.mygriefcare.com
Your Grief Guides YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxXrACWW7qjFlQ1A26onCMQ
Anne-Marie’s 8-time award-winning book “When Their World Stops - The Essential Guide to Truly Helping Anyone in Grief” https://amzn.to/3Sb2T2f

Bio:
Anne-Marie Lockmyer is a grief specialist, certified in critical incident stress debriefing, a certified trauma-integrative practitioner, 8-time award-winning author on grief, and founder of The Grief & Trauma Healing Network. As a widow herself, Anne-Marie knows the pain and devastation that grief and loss cause and is living proof that you can go from surviving to thriving. Anne-Marie works with people worldwide, and is passionate about advocating for and loving grievers and being an educational catalyst to society on grief and loss.