PEACE AFTER LOSS OF A LOVED ONE TO SUICIDE

“When our children die, we want their lives to have mattered. We long for the world to know they were here.”
   
      —Jean Ann Williams

Description of  God’s Mercies after Suicide: Blessings

By Jean Ann Williams

Woven through a Mother’s Heart is a devotional of two hundred and nineteen pages–30,000 words– and is intended for mothers who’ve lost children to suicide. This book is a friendly, approachable, inviting book that helps mothers feel welcome and at ease to allow them a peaceful time to reflect on their loss and the child they miss. Each chapter has three sections. The devotional begins with Scripture and where the author tells the story of her loss and then ends in a prayer. The second part is of the author’s anecdotes and memories of her son. The author reenacts moments in her child’s life and recalls how she felt to see the different stages of growth and challenges he faced in life. The concluding part to each chapter is a journal page for the readers to write their memories of their child. It allows them space for both memories and grieving, a prayer of praise, and a Scripture of encouragement.
   
      When a mother has lost a child, there are times when it’s hard to mingle with other people. Each God’s Mercies after Suicide chapter can be read and journaled in within the privacy of a mother’s home, giving her a bit of hope and rest for another day. The book is distinctive in that it combines coping with the pain of loss while encouraging mothers to search for their own blessings.
   
      It has been stated by sufferers of loss to suicide that the topic of suicide is taboo, and that the survivors feel they’ve been isolated from the normal hum of life. In truth, the ones left behind after the suicide do have a valid point. Included in the preface of the book is this paragraph: “I’ve written these devotions for those mothers who have shared the deep heartache of a child’s suicide. Through my writing, I believe God wants me to share from my heart to theirs, by encouraging them and giving them ways to cope. Mothers can have hope and a due measure of peace after a suicide. God has helped me, and He wants to help other mothers. The loss is horrific, but God is faithful. He brought me through this dark time, and He wants to do the same for all mothers.”

Jean Williams Short Bio
   
      Jean Ann Williams lives in Southern Oregon with her husband Jim. Although one of their children has passed on to the Great Beyond, their two remaining children have blessed them with thirteen grandchildren, their Baker’s Dozen. To learn more about Jean Ann Williams visit her on Face Book, Twitter, and her blog Love Truth, where the partial book is blogged  through installments, and Jean Ann Williams: Author blog.