Pilgrimage through Loss: Pathways to Strength and Renewal after the Death of a Child

by Linda Lawrence Hunt

Overview

The death of a child immerses parents into a life-long challenge of living with one of life's most heartbreaking losses. Pilgrimage through Loss tells the story of one family's journey, along with interviews from thirty other mothers and fathers who add their voices to the silences that often surround suffering in our "˜mourning-avoidant' culture. Hunt illuminates the varied pathways parents eventually discover that open their lives to strength and healing. Rather than prescribing a path that will lead to recovery, Hunt encourages parents to find the pathways that work for them as they seek to engage life again with meaning and hope. Each chapter includes questions for reflection and discussion, plus recent research on grief and loss. Pilgrimage through Loss not only helps grieving parents, it also provides an insightful resource for those wanting to understand and come alongside a family in grief.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780664239480
Publisher:	Westminster John Knox Press
Publication date:	02/07/2014
Pages:	222
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Linda Lawrence Hunt is the co-founder of the Krista Foundation for Global Citizenship, named after her daughter who died in a bus crash while performing humanitarian work in Bolivia. A former professor at Whitworth University, a scholar, and speaker, she has authored or coauthored six books, including the best-selling Bold Spirit: Helga Estby's Forgotten Walk across Victorian America. It was the recipient of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award, the Washington State Book Award, and the national Willa Cather Award for nonfiction.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Linda Lawrence Hunt's Pilgrimage Through Loss is an important book, especially for any family devastated by the death of a child. I know parents need the encouragement and help offered here because I lost my son, Spencer. All who read this will be blessed!"

-Dr. John Perkins, author and founder of Mendenhall Ministries

"The most difficult thing about the death of your child, after enduring that loss itself, is learning that your way of grieving may be very different from that of your spouse and others who loved that child. It is all so delicate, and how we negotiate this painful time is crucial to ourselves and our marriage and our friendships -- and no less to the memory of the child who died. In Pilgrimage through Loss Linda Lawrence Hunt does such a fine, lovely job of explaining that although we can never escape this grief, we can, in our own way, do our best by it."

-Frank Deford, American sportswriter, novelist, and author of Alex: The Life of a Child

"Award-winning author Linda Lawrence Hunt does it again… With due respect to many books about grief, it is Hunt's spiritual insight and compelling prose that will make one reader want to tell another and another about this extraordinary book."

-Ronald C. White, Jr., Author, A. Lincoln: A Biography and Fellow, The Huntington Library

"A wonderful memoir! …creative, joyful, poignant and memorable… this will be an excellent resource for grief groups, too."

-Rev. Marilyn H. Corvin, Retired United Church of Christ Minister, Former Staff Chaplain, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Palo Alto, CA

"Pilgrimage through Loss is both a gift and a challenge. Permeated by the healing power of narrative witness from many parents, Linda Hunt's sensitively written book speaks profoundly to the hardest passages of human loss. But she leads the reader through such depths to a new and unexpected place, including the mysterious ways in which God works through suffering to give to those who mourn the gift of enduring hope. With an honesty that is both wise and unflinching, she shows us how joy does not supplant, but rather transforms grieving."

-Darrell Guder, Ph. D., Professor of Missional and Ecumenical Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary

"This beautifully written and comforting book unveils with grace the paths taken by parents as they faced a great loss, the death of their child... It's also a book for aunts, uncles, grandparents and friends who seek words and ways to offer encouragement as they walk beside those traveling through grief. Having been there, let me add: this is a book I will give to many and reread often."

-Jane Kirkpatrick, speaker and author of A Simple Gift of Comfort and The Daughter's Walk

"Pilgrimage through Loss doesn't tell us what we need to do, but offers a gentle, wise, empathetic companion for the lonely, terrible, and grace-filled long journey of grief. As Linda Hunt grieves the loss of her loving daughter Krista, and shares the stories of other parents, she articulates most profoundly and beautifully that grief is as individual and unique an experience as is the life being grieved. There are many kinds of grief and no easy answers. But there is considerable power in being reminded we are not alone, and Pilgrimage through Loss offers that assurance. It is a book I will re-read and recommend often."

-Rev. John Owen, Chaplain, U.S. Navy

"Linda brings a message of hope and inspiration to readers. Linda shows how our hearts can expand to fully integrate this loss into our lives and encourages all who must deal with this kind of tragedy."

-Carolyn Ringo, RN, MSW, Perinatal/Pediatric Palliative Care Coordinator, Providence Sacred Heart Children's Hospital, Spokane, WA

"In Pilgrimage through Loss, Linda Lawrence Hunt takes us on a beautifully written and abiding journey through the evolving experiences of grief for parents after the loss of a child. Her perspectives, shared with the stories and wisdom of many other parents she interviewed, have greatly deepened my own understanding of grief. Like none I have heard or ever read before, she helped me see the powerful potential of the wellspring of love under a broken heart that can help in one's healing in sorrow. Through the pathways, she shares many of the ways she, her husband, and others have found to nurture this wellspring, sometimes intentionally, sometimes through other's kind friendship, and sometimes through sheer grace. This book is a most valuable resource not only to parents and their friends and family, but also to physicians, therapists, and other clinicians who may accompany those who suffer such tragic losses."

-Dr. James Shaw, Former Medical Director for Providence Center for Faith and Healing, and Palliative Care Services, Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and Children's Hospital

Editorial Reviews

"Award-winning author Linda Lawrence Hunt does it again… With due respect to many books about grief, it is Hunt's spiritual insight and compelling prose that will make one reader want to tell another and another about this extraordinary book."
-Ronald C. White, Jr., Author, A. Lincoln: A Biography and Fellow, The Huntington Library

"A wonderful memoir! …creative, joyful, poignant and memorable… this will be an excellent resource for grief groups, too."
-Rev. Marilyn H. Corvin, Retired United Church of Christ Minister, Former Staff Chaplain, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Palo Alto, CA

"This beautifully written and comforting book unveils with grace the paths taken by parents as they faced a great loss, the death of their child... It's also a book for aunts, uncles, grandparents and friends who seek words and ways to offer encouragement as they walk beside those traveling through grief. Having been there, let me add: this is a book I will give to many and reread often."
-Jane Kirkpatrick, speaker and author of A Simple Gift of Comfort and The Daughter's Walk

"Linda brings a message of hope and inspiration to readers. Linda shows how our hearts can expand to fully integrate this loss into our lives and encourages all who must deal with this kind of tragedy."
-Carolyn Ringo, RN, MSW, Perinatal/Pediatric Palliative Care Coordinator, Providence Sacred Heart Children's Hospital, Spokane, WA

"The most difficult thing about the death of your child, after enduring that loss itself, is learning that your way of grieving may be very different from that of your spouse and others who loved that child. It is all so delicate, and how we negotiate this painful time is crucial to ourselves and our marriage and our friendships — and no less to the memory of the child who died. In Pilgrimage through Loss Linda Lawrence Hunt does such a fine, lovely job of explaining that although we can never escape this grief, we can, in our own way, do our best by it."
-Frank Deford, American sportswriter, novelist, and author of Alex: The Life of a Child

"In Pilgrimage through Loss, Linda Lawrence Hunt takes us on a beautifully written and abiding journey through the evolving experiences of grief for parents after the loss of a child. Her perspectives, shared with the stories and wisdom of many other parents she interviewed, have greatly deepened my own understanding of grief. Like none I have heard or ever read before, she helped me see the powerful potential of the wellspring of love under a broken heart that can help in one's healing in sorrow. Through the pathways, she shares many of the ways she, her husband, and others have found to nurture this wellspring, sometimes intentionally, sometimes through other's kind friendship, and sometimes through sheer grace. This book is a most valuable resource not only to parents and their friends and family, but also to physicians, therapists, and other clinicians who may accompany those who suffer such tragic losses."

-Dr. James Shaw, Former Medical Director for Providence Center for Faith and Healing, and Palliative Care Services, Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and Children's Hospital



"Pilgrimage through Loss doesn't tell us what we need to do, but offers a gentle, wise, empathetic companion for the lonely, terrible, and grace-filled long journey of grief. As Linda Hunt grieves the loss of her loving daughter Krista, and shares the stories of other parents, she articulates most profoundly and beautifully that grief is as individual and unique an experience as is the life being grieved. There are many kinds of grief and no easy answers. But there is considerable power in being reminded we are not alone, and Pilgrimage through Loss offers that assurance. It is a book I will re-read and recommend often."

-Rev. John Owen, Chaplain, U.S. Navy



"Linda Lawrence Hunt's Pilgrimage Through Loss is an important book, especially for any family devastated by the death of a child. I know parents need the encouragement and help offered here because I lost my son, Spencer. All who read this will be blessed!"

-Dr. John Perkins, author and founder of Mendenhall Ministries



"Pilgrimage through Loss is both a gift and a challenge. Permeated by the healing power of narrative witness from many parents, Linda Hunt's sensitively written book speaks profoundly to the hardest passages of human loss. But she leads the reader through such depths to a new and unexpected place, including the mysterious ways in which God works through suffering to give to those who mourn the gift of enduring hope. With an honesty that is both wise and unflinching, she shows us how joy does not supplant, but rather transforms grieving."

-Darrell Guder, Ph. D., Professor of Missional and Ecumenical Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary

From the Publisher