Grief is a powerful and transformative experience that touches us all in different ways. In this poignant episode, Amy Shaw shares her journey through profound love and the depths of grief following the loss of her husband. Married for nearly 25 years and having built a large family, Amy faced the unimaginable when her husband received a devastating diagnosis. This conversation explores the many facets of grief, from the initial shock and pain to the ongoing process of healing and finding strength. Amy’s story offers insights into navigating grief, honoring loved ones, and discovering resilience in the face of loss. It’s a testament to the enduring power of love and the human spirit’s capacity to find meaning even amidst profound grief. I am sharing my experience of loving the same man for 32 years, a mother to two adult children, a retired military officer, a breast cancer survivor, and my connections with others. Anyone experiencing suicidal thoughts should reach out to a suicide hotline or local emergency number in their country: Psychology Today Suicide Hotlines and Prevention Resources Around the World — Watch the episode here   Listen to the podcast here   The Complexities Of Grief: Finding Strength After Loss With Amy Shaw Our conversation with Ms. Amy Shaw is going to be so insightful. We’re going to talk about how to navigate your personal grief along with ten children, leaving a legacy for your husband and the impact that your grief journey can make in the world. Let’s get into this conversation now.     Amy, welcome to the widowhood. Thank you. Thanks for having me. You are welcome. When you hear, “Welcome to the widowhood,” what comes to mind to you? Belonging to a club that no one ever chooses to come into, but life circumstances bring you there and here we are. Entering Widowhood: Amy’s Story & Early Grief I would agree. If you would, in saying that, would you give us a little bit about how you became a part of the widowhood? Yeah. My husband and I were married for 24 and a half years. Our plan was to make it to 50 and that was not the plan that the Lord had, but we lived a wonderful life. He was the love of my life. I was the love of his. We ministered together overseas and we built a large family together of ten children. We were very surprised that he, at age 43, was diagnosed with the most aggressive possible brain cancer, glioblastoma. He was given 6 to 12 months to live. It was a real shock for us. We actively celebrated his life and he was given a wonderful 37 months after that diagnosis. We celebrated, we lived well, we made memories. He left an amazing legacy and he is now with the Lord. That is a lot that you said in a very short period of time and thank you for being willing to share that. How long did it take you to be able to share that in that manner? I think we were very open with our friends and our supporters because we had been missionaries. We’d been seen by people. The whole time that we were going through cancer, we had people involved. I think being able to see it in a nice little package like that certainly has come later. Yeah, we involved people all the way through. Involving people in being able to say that, there are people reading this conversation whose spouse literally may have died this month. The idea of mentioning their death elicits so many different emotions and they’re wanting to know how were you able to have these conversations and not act in that way? I think we had this perspective that death was a doorway between this earthly life and our eternal life. We spent a lot of time talking with our children, talking together as a couple that as much as we hated the fact that he was being taken out early, he died at age 47, we knew that if this was the plan of God, that we couldn’t really fight against it. We prayed and we had people all around the world praying for total healing. I really believe that he did get that for about sixteen months where he had no treatment. I think our whole perspective on death was this is going to be a temporary separation, that I will eventually join him in eternity and that the Lord’s plan is for him to go off early and that he has more work for me to do. I think having that perspective all the way through, I’m not saying that it made the pain any less, but I think even when we had the burial service, I remember it was raining and there were people standing there and at the end of it all, people were crying. I was like, “Guys, this isn’t the end of the story. He’s not staying in the grave. He is getting up out of this grave. This isn’t the end.” I think having this way backed up per perspective on it helps me not lose hope and helps me remember that like where I am on the big timeline and I have this little window of time that I don’t know when my time is, but I have this little window of time that I can make impacts and influence the world. I don’t know. I see it in a different way, maybe. Faith, Grief, And Finding Strength In Loss I love that for you and I want to spend a little bit of time here, if we may. There are oftentimes I speak with people and the passing of their loved one actually pulls them away from God. They are mad, they are discouraged and they feel like their relationship with God failed them because this happened to them. What about your relationship with God did