From Grief to Hope: The Journey We Don't Talk About
From Grief to Hope: The Journey We Don’t Talk About
Seeing God in the Story We’ve Lived
🌱 When We Pause Long Enough to Reflect
May seems to be the month when everything gears down, only to wind back up again. Schools are closing for the summer, spring is showing some of its green growth, and we all take a collective breath as vacation time arrives. On the other hand, many are preparing for graduation parties, cleaning up for the arrival of family members, and looking at vacation plans.
Life seems to go through these seasons, and I’m talking more about those where we either spend family time or look ahead at becoming empty nesters. I’ve been an empty nester for a number of years now, but this past weekend I had the opportunity to attend a writing retreat with seven friends near Knoxville, Tennessee. It was a great chance to step away from normal life and be in a centered space focused on writing for our readers. It brought up thoughts and feelings that helped me focus on the right direction to take with my writing after my children’s book is released on May 12. I write to share hope with my readers. There’s something about stepping away from everyday life that allows God to speak more clearly.
While I continue to focus on grief and hope for kids and families, I am also starting a new nonfiction book about the attributes of God and how they relate to those trials and tribulations we go through in life. Who is God? This will be a significant time of reflection for me as I study who God is and how His presence relates to my life. This time showed me that we don’t often slow down enough to reflect on what God has done in our lives. In the quiet of that space, I was reminded that God has been present in every chapter of my story.
📖 Psalm 46:10
“Be still, and know that I am God…”
💔 Looking Back With New Eyes
Starting a new book is not an easy thing. While writing my children’s book, I found it brought back memories differently than I expected. It wasn’t easy to look back at that time with its pain and grief, but it also brought me perspective. Perspective on what God was doing in my life all along. As I start writing a new book, I realize I am going to see new learning from many other events in my life. God has an amazing way of doing that. He shows us how He works in our lives, sometimes as you’re going through trials, and other times He brings us back to the past to see how He provided for us and helped us as we were going through trials.
📖 Psalm 147:3
“He heals the brokenhearted…”
As I’ve said before: healing isn’t always immediate. It unfolds over time.
🌿 God Was There Then, Too
If you’ve read my children’s book or read it in the future, I tell of how God caused events to occur on the day my daddy died to keep us safe and to keep us from knowing about his death until we could hear it from our grandparents. So, even in the moment of loss, He was there. Even when I didn’t understand what flat tires meant that day… even when I didn’t expect the sun to come up the day after Daddy died because my grief was overwhelming… HE WAS THERE.
📖 Isaiah 41:10
“So do not fear, for I am with you…”
I love that God’s presence is not dependent on our awareness.
✨ What Writing the Story Revealed
Writing my children’s book opened my eyes to the fact that God knew I was going to go through anxiety and depression down the road. He knew that I would face extremely difficult trials as I lived my life. But He prepared me for those as a child of 8 when I accepted Him into my life and became a Jesus follower. Belonging to Him gave me the hope I needed to move forward, and writing the book years later was where I dealt with the real healing.
He showed me that my anxiety and depression had no grip on my life as long as I remembered His faithfulness to me, to help me through everything that happened in my life from the loss of my daddy and everything that followed. He showed me that my need to take control had no place in my life, because He was in control the whole time. Anything that happened to me would eventually bring glory to Him when I focused my gaze on Him. God carried me when I honestly felt that I couldn’t take another step during more devastating times. I truly know God’s purpose for me is to share my message of hope in Him with others who are going through difficult times of grief or loss. That’s why this story needed to be shared.
📖 Ecclesiastes 3:11
“He has made everything beautiful in its time.”
Understanding comes through reading His Word and having a regular relationship with Him through prayer and obedience.
🌼 From Grief to Hope—Through Faith
Hope didn’t come all at once. In fact, at my age, I have to say it’s been a lifelong process. I feel like I have so much to learn, and if I’m honest, I haven’t worked very hard at it, especially during those difficult seasons. But I do know it comes through prayer, Scripture, community with other believers, and time spent in silence and reflection.
📖 Romans 15:13
“May the God of hope fill you…”
🌸 A Gentle Invitation to Reflect
With all that said, I would encourage you, dear reader, to look back at your own story. Everyone has a story that should be shared, whether with a close friend or through a book or speech. Ask yourself, What is my story? Where has God been present? By reflecting on your own story, you are able to help others, especially children or teens who are learning about life and how hard it can be sometimes. Your reflection helps guide others through life events.
💬 Reflection Questions
For Adults:
When you look back on your story, where can you see that God was with you, even if you didn’t realize it at the time?
For Children:
Can you think of a time when something felt hard, but someone helped you or stayed with you?
✏️ Activity
“Looking Back, Finding Light” ✨
Draw a simple path or timeline.
At one point on the path, draw or write something hard that happened.
Along the path, add small symbols (a heart, a cross, a light) to show where help, love, or care was given.
At the end of the path, draw something that represents hope (anchor, butterfly, heart, sunlight).
👉 Talk together: Sometimes we understand our story better when we look back and see who was with us along the way.
🙏 Breath Prayer
Inhale: Lord, You were with me then.
Exhale: You are with me still.
🌿 Closing Hope
Even in the moments we didn’t understand, God was present, and He is still gently leading your story toward hope.
When we take time to look back, we begin to see that God has been writing hope into our story all along.
🌷 Be Part of Something Hope-Filled
Everyone knows a child who has gone through loss or an adult who has never dealt with the loss of a loved one. On May 12, And the Sun Came Up: A True Story of Grief and Hope is released into the world, and I am inviting YOU to read it or share it with someone you know who could benefit from it.
If you have a heart for children walking through grief…
If you believe in helping families grow stronger through faith…
If you know an adult who struggles to get through a loss from early in life…
✨ I would be honored for you to share this book.
By doing this, you will:
✨ Help share hope with families who need it most
✨ Play a meaningful role in bringing this message to children
✨ Promote a faith-based outlook on the grief we all deal with at some point in life
Children walking through grief need hope, and you can help place it in their hands.
🌿 I would love for you to be part of this hope-filled journey. After reading it, if you would share on social media or write a review on Amazon, Goodreads, and other platforms, it would be extremely important for putting this book into the hands of children who need the hope it brings.
Following are some links where you can preorder my book. Preorders are important as they push the book to where it is seen more often by those who need it.
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Mary%20Grace%20Johnson...
Publisher: https://www.hopebooksstore.com/.../and-the-sun-came-up-a...
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/.../And%20the%20Sun%20Came...
Walmart: https://www.walmart.com/search?q=And+the+Sun+Came+Up+book
Books-a-Million: https://www.booksamillion.com/.../Mary.../9798891852730
Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/and-the-sun-came-up-a-true-story-of-grief-and-hope/d74dd3781808266d?ean=9798891852730&next=t
Thought I would share a few pictures from our writing retreat in Tennessee!
