“FULL CIRCLE”….this is a phrase that kept ringing in my ear the other day …just when I knew I was awake but my body wanted to still curl up in bed and my eyes wanted to stay shut. Thoughts that come during this time of day are the ones that I reflect upon.
Three weeks from now I will be back in the Philippines. Quite a few people asked me why I go to the US….for those who I feel need to know I tell them the details why I am here…for the rest who don’t need to know I just smile and say “EAT, PRAY AND LOVE”. Sa totoo lang minsan I catch myself asking “God bakit mo ako dinala sa US….hindi lang once pero thrice pa”. Pero magaling talaga si God!!!!!!
GOD with all His wisdom and grace allowed events to happen and put people in my life so that I could attend a GRIEF TALK Series. Six years ago, it did not make sense why my mom passed away (due to pancreatic cancer).Two years ago my blood pressure (BP) went up, which was also the time I took a big leap to walk away from a relationship. This was also this time I met my cardiologist who not only stabilized my BP but showed me that a healthy life and heart is one that seeks and obey God’s will. It was also a God appointed moment because it ushered me to a greater work and involvement with EPCALM.
Last July, my friend Nora Cady (from Washington State) brought me to play pickle ball in the house of Mel Erickson who happens to be a Grief Counselor and a facilitator for Grief Seminars. Well, well, well, it just so happens that Mel had a scheduled 6 session series on Grief …..so I participated. The experience and the learning I went through of having attended Mel’s Grief Talk Series (sponsored by SUMMIT UNITED METHODIST CHURCH) ….was a journey in itself. It made me go back to the experience of not only my mom’s death but who my mother was to me. It also opened up all the other “losses” in my life. Because after all, grieving is not only for those who lost a love one through death but all other “losses” in life. I was able to “UNPACK MY GRIEF BUNDLE”.
There is a poem we repeatedly recited in Mel’s Grief Talk Series and I want to share it with you: “Tears on the outside, Fall to the ground and Are slowly swept away……Tears on the inside …Fall on the soul and STAY, and STAY, and STAY.” YES!!! God allows grief and that we who experience it knows that it WORKS!!!! GRIEF WORKS…. because as we experience all the emotions and confusions attached to it we are allowed to REBUILD OURSELVES, WE HAVE GREATER DEPTH AS HUMAN BEINGS AND HAVE A DEEPER COMPASSION FOR OTHERS.
I pray that we can bring Mel to the Philippines. I have in my heart that all who are with EPCALM can experience the healing that I personally went through as I attended the sessions with Mel. God is gracious and great!!!! HIS plans may not make sense in the beginning but it certainly makes a FULL CIRCLE.
EPCALM Post-Note: EPCALM is looking into holding a two-part “Grief Seminar” series for patients and patient families (Part 1) and EPCALM Staff and Trainors (Part 2). Please pray that this will become a reality.
By: Marie Beth Lorenzo, EPCALM Partnership/Affiliation Ministry Director
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