Grieving Room: Making Space for All the Hard Things after Death and Loss

When we lose someone we love, we are forever changed. When our person dies, our grief needs room.

People long to reduce the enormity of our grief. "Time heals all wounds," they tell us, or "At least she isn't in pain anymore." Yet no matter how hard others try to stuff our grief into a process or a plan, grief cannot be willed away.

Leanne Friesen thought she knew a lot about bereavement. She had studied it in school and preached at memorial services. But only when her own sister died from ca...