When I (Ben) was first told that I was going to have to conduct over 150 hours of group therapy as part of my counseling program, I remember feeling really drawn to GriefShare, a support group for people who have suffered recent loss of a loved one. Having been through grief myself with the loss of my brother Luke, I felt like I had some idea of how to be with people during this painful time. I also had a bit of a selfish motive: I wanted to get more grief-based therapy myself.
I went to the first meeting, excited about the possibility of helping others going through the grief process. That first night I heard over 20 people share their stories of recent loss of a loved one. Some people were so overwhelmed that they literally could not speak more than a few words. Immediately, I began feeling uncomfortable and wondering what I was doing here. It was almost too overwhelming to listen to all these tragic stories in one sitting.
Despite being very uncomfortable that first week, I came back and was incredibly blessed in the next 13 weeks. We started watching a GriefShare video series. The first video talked about how grief was unique to each person. This was great for me to hear because I had seen from my own experience how differently people can respond to the same situation.
Each week, after watching the video we split up into smaller groups. It was in this group where I saw amazing transformations in peoples' lives. I saw people, who literally in the first week could not talk, begin to change and even become encouraging and supportive to others in the group. I couldn't believe how quickly people were transformed through this group. It was powerful. It was humbling knowing that the Lord was able to use me here, even in a small way.
After leading another incredible GriefShare group over the summer, I decided to try my hand at something else so I began co-leading an addictions recovery group for men. I am only a few weeks into this group but already I am being stretched in a new way and am excited to see the Lord work in the lives of the members of this group.
For more information on GriefShare, visit their website (www.griefshare.org) or click here.
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