In August of this year, Teresa and we took Torn in Half a step further. We developed presentations on grief and loss and Teresa flew into Indiana from Texas for us to give 5 presentations over a period of one week. We were going to present at a homeless shelter, 2 different spas and a church. We were putting our blog into action!
Though we had worked for over a year on our blog, we had yet to present together. This was going to be a test of our combined presentation skills. It would also give us a feel for how our work might benefit others.
Our prayer was that …no matter what happened…God would bring to us the people who most needed our message and we would be a resource beyond the scope of our blog.
The homeless shelter was our first stop. It was a small group. They were warm and very thankful for our information and time. In that group was a young man who had lost his fiance and was left to raise their children. We were able to provide him and the others with some tools to assist them in their respective journeys. What a blessed way to begin the week, we felt energized and knew we were doing what He called us to do. Little did we know how much further God would answer this question in this week.
Throughout the course of the week, we discovered that one of the spas did not have any reservations and was going to cancel their two seminars. This was disappointing but we were determined to move forward. We utilized the extra time to work on the blog and building the scope and reach of Torn in Half. We added a Facebook page and began to look at other ways to grow and get our message out there. A newsletter is coming soon! Please sign up. [insert signup page]
The other spa had a small gathering and among the participants was a woman whose husband had passed away after a long illness. We were able to demonstrate that the grief process looks different to everyone. No two people grieve the same way. We reassured them that how they grieve is normal and there is no right or wrong way to grieve. Our journey that day allowed a woman to become aware that she had done most of her grieving during the illness and, as a very private woman, she didn’t like to express her grief openly around others. She was on the journey but it was different than others may have expected it to be.
Our final half day workshop, “The Empty Chair” at a local church and was the largest of our presentations. The workshop began with a Gospel Singer that got everyone in the spirit and alive.. We were touched by powerful emotional the chosen songs evoked .
After beginning the workshop with song and prayer, the pastor of the church got up to introduce us to the gathering. In his introduction, he spoke of our ministry. Ministry? OK, God what’s next? We looked at each other across the room and smiled. We had not thought out loud about this being a ministry. God? Really? We are running a ministry?!! We are running a little blog to help others. You want a ministry? OK. We are listening. Throughout the day God kept telling us. THUMP! We hear you. It has become evident that Torn in Half is indeed a ministry. We are adjusting to God’s directive and have been in prayer and discussion what this means to Torn in Half. Stay tuned.
God definitely has a sense of humor! 🙂
Once we recovered from the introduction, we got into the nuts and bolts of our workshop and provided grief tools for our participants. Part of our workshop included journaling. It was a wonderful day and the workshop was going smoothly, during our breaks people were thanking us, asking questions and very engaged in the activities. .
During the journaling, Jeni noticed that there was a widower in attendance and he was journaling intently. We began timing our presentation to his journaling process. We were impressed by his diligence. Later, we learned that he was only a few months from having lost his love of many years. We admired his bravery and courage for being there and committed to the grieving process. There is no way at that point in Jeni’s or Teresa’s grief journey that we could have attended such a session so early. We are sure that there were others who benefitted from that day…but he was the one who stood out for us.
We noticed during the workshop that those who also were friends, family and shepherds through grief that were learning new material about grief, tools for processing grief and learning about their own grief journeys. For us, seeing the wide scope of impact the work we do and how many people can benefit from this work was empowering.
Though the week did not turn out the way we had planned it. The experience definitely met our prayer expectations. God had brought us those who needed us and provided us the words to deliver the message that was needed….and, along the way…we learned, we grew…we have a ministry?
God is good.
Peace, love and blessings,
Jeni & Teresa
Jeni and I would love to present to you and your group. – Please contact us.
