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5 Ways to Cope with the First Holiday Season After the Loss of a Spouse

Remember that it will get better.


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God sees you, feels you, and loves you. He is weeping with you as you experience profound loss amongst the expectations of the holidays. It seems wildly unfair that you must go through the holidays with such a heavy heart. But remember that the pain won’t be this excruciating every year. As you pass challenging milestones, triggers, and special days, the grief makes itself cozy in your heart but won’t sting hard forever. You will learn to live with the suffering, and as you build a new life around your loss, it will slowly be filled with unique traditions, new people, and a new way of doing things that will help ease the pain and bring healing.

Grief can be our worst enemy but our best friend simultaneously. Grief can repeatedly stab us in the heart with triggers and memories, but it teaches us to appreciate life at an entirely new level. We learn to cope with deep pain, push past it, and watch for God to work it all for good. ( Romans 8:28) Because ultimately, He is where the joy is, and He is the one that can bring us to a life full of healing, once again celebrating the holidays full of new life.

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Heidi Vegh is a writer, speaker, and ministry leader living in Gig Harbor, WA. She is a remarried mother of four, navigating the blended family life after the loss of her first husband to cancer in 2013. She longs to use her writing as a way to encourage others who have experienced loss and guide them on the road to healing. She contributes to her blog found at www.mrsheidivegh.com , sharing stories and devotionals of faith stemming from her loss and healing, mothering, and her blended and complex family. She graduated from Southern New Hampshire University with a degree in Creative Writing and English and is working on her first book. Heidi is the Women’s Ministry Director at Gig Harbor Foursquare and has a deep heart for sharing Jesus with women and encouraging them in their faith walk. When she is not writing she loves to travel, read, craft, and experiment in the kitchen. Visit her Facebook and Instagram (@mrsheidivegh) to learn more.

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