Friday, October 30, 2015

Susan B. Mead: Moving From Grief To Dancing With Jesus

Everyone's Story welcomes author and speaker Susan B. Mead. Susan joins us this week from Israel with the Proverbs 31 Ministries. I admire Susan for both her inner strength to move forward with her eyes on God despite life's stresses as well as her willingness to help others through tough times. It's my pleasure to host her and I hope you will enjoy her video, short interview, and her BookGiveaway offer. Both Susan and I look forward to hearing from you!


BookGiveaway:

Susan is offering 1 copy of her non-fiction book, DANCE WITH JESUS, to 1 randomly chosen commenter. The winner will be announced here on Friday, November 6th between 5-6 PM EST. To be entered in the Giveaway, please leave your contact information within your comment (you may choose to use the Contact Me form to privately send me your email address--the form is in the right-hand sidebar on the blog's main page, toward the bottom).




Questions for Susan Mead:

You come from a very tender place in wanting to help others move from grief to grace: the passing of your sister by her own hand, and then the passing of your son. Has this helped in your healing process?

I needed to see and or read about someone else who had lost and was living again-joyfully. I found a profound need to share my path for the next individual needing a helping hand and a guide along the healing journey. Someone who has been there and understands without any questioning, that’s one thing I bring to the table.

Does the calmness you speak about finding in the midst of chaos change daily? How can we learn how to be so adoptable?

Calm in the chaos of life does change, however, I choose to recalibrate often by renewing my mind daily. When I start my day in the Word of God, He calms the chaos of my day and orders my steps. Does it solve everything? No way! Yet it changes and settles the atmosphere. 

The song Lord Jesus Come is playing in the background right now.  How appropriate! To me calm is spelled J E S U S. He calms our chaos, just like He calmed the stormy seas, saying, “Quiet. Be still.” And the storm was quelled. So I invite Him into my storms and ask Him to quiet them for me.

Do more women than men tend to deal with guilt issues over “lightening up” after tragedy? If so, how can we overcome this?

I’m not an expert in this area. More women TALK than men, that we know, so the perception may be this is so. I learned that we have to accept the differences of individuals as they grieve. 

We can offer some possible things folks may (MAY!) experience, yet people simply grieve differently. And each person deserves respect for their needs, as long as it is not self-destructive or destructive to others. Then that would need a referral to someone else to guide them from a destructive to a constructive path.

So many folks simply need to know what they are experiencing is NORMAL feelings/behavior in an ABNORMAL situation. That brings a measure of calm into the chaos and is where being trained as a chaplain comes in handy!

On a lighter note, do you have a go-to favorite comfort food or other indulgence for one of life’s just-plain-old-yucky days? Myself, I find comfort watching movie-musicals!

How fun! I’ll have to try that sometime too. A great book with me curled up, tucked in and snuggled under a soft blanket on my little red love seat or sitting on a dock over water calms me. Or a massage – that always works to dump the junky stuff!

And Nestle’s Toll House chocolate chip cookies…RARE treat that my 91 year old mom makes for Thanksgiving each year-and we are getting close, so I’m thinking about them already! (Why is my mouth watering?)

Susan's Ah-hahs To Tweet
Everyone’s Story: Visit with author/speaker @SusanBMead to see how she went from chaos to calm. (Tweet This)

#BookGiveaway of @SusanBMead’s DANCE WITH JESUS: From Grief to Grace. (Tweet This)

@SusanBMead wants to know how you spell the word “Calm” and no, this isn’t a trick question! (Tweet This)

Author's Bio:
Susan Burfoot Mead is blessed to be married to my soul mate, Holt Mead, since 1979. She is the mother of two sons, Matthew, who lives in South Louisiana and Kyle, Forever 20 and in Heaven, where he is doing a Dance with Jesus. Kyle’s been there since March 29, 2008.

She wrote the book Dance With Jesus: From Grief to Grace as the answer to a question posed in the Experiencing God Bible Study she was in the midst of doing. The question asked was what does God want you to do, right now?
With the passing of her son Kyle, Susan realized things get broken, discarded or replaced. People Matter. She HAD to create time for the people who mattered MOST to her! Susan believes God gave her this gift of time to do what He wants her to do. Make His name known. Hold the hand of others as they walk a path of healing towards hope. Help others be transformed.


In 2014, Susan was ordained as a Sr. Chaplain with the International Fellowship of Chaplains, Inc. (IFOC) and certified by the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation in Critical Incidence for Stress Management (CISM) in Individual Grief, Group Grief and Grief Following Trauma.

Places to connect with Susan:

*********************************************************************************
Please note:

--I have a title change for my novel coming soon from Elk Lake Publishing: Always With You.

--I will soon launch a specially designed website that will incorporate Eveyone's Story blog. I hope you will follow me on this new site. When it goes live, I'll make the announcement!


25 comments:

  1. Very inspiring. Our son is also forever 20, in heaven since march 30, 2002

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joan, so nice to see you. I'm glad Susan's words resonated with you, though I'm truly sorry about your son. May he be forever happy and at peace, and in heaven how can he not be?

      Delete
    2. A PS, Joan, I did receive your contact email info via the Contact Me form.

      Delete
    3. Joan, my heart aches for your loss. Forever 20. Dates both end of March. Hugs. May God hold your hand and heart in His mighty healing hand. Susan

      Delete
  2. When we walk in the Valley of the Shadow of Death, God is always with us. Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt unbearably sometimes, it means He's been there, too. Beautiful post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for those strong words, Pat. A special guest speaker in a high school sociology class started off her lecture by "I'm dying." For a chatty high school class, believe me, there was instant silence. You could hear a collective gulp! When she continued to say that all of us start dying the second we're born (as in aging and growing closer to death) sure, it was kind of depressing but I think that kicked off my sometimes obsessive thoughts on the subject. Now, as I daily try to grow closer to my Father I focus on how death is not an end but a wonder eternal beginning.

      Delete
    2. Patricia, yes He is with us - always! In our darkest moment, God shines His brightest light.

      Delete
  3. Hi Susan -

    Thank you for sharing your journey. I've been down the path of grief. My husband died in 2007 of leukemia. It took several years before I could write about what I went through. The article wasn't published, but it had a healing effect on me.

    God bless,
    Susan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Susan, thanks for sharing your story. While I've known about your beloved husband's passing I wasn't aware of the impact on your writing though I truly understand how that can happen. May His loving peace be with you all of your days.

      Delete
    2. Susan, yes how magnificent that God helps us heal. Sometimes our writing is for us to share with Him. Blessings. Susan

      Delete
  4. We have a Grief Support Group that meets at my church every week. This book would be a wonderful addition to our other books about grief in the church library.
    Janet E.
    von1janet(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A warm welcome back, Janet! You're so thoughtful of others!

      Delete
    2. Von, would you like to schedule a Skype interview sometime for your group? I'd be honored, if so

      Delete
  5. Thank you so much for sharing. God Bless you and comfort you!
    Blessings
    Diana
    joeym11(at)frontier(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello, Diana. Thanks so much for visiting.

      Hope to see you again!

      Delete
    2. Thank you Diana for your comment.

      Delete
  6. Susan, it's wonderful that you wrote this book to help others. I also wrote a book to help others. It is about my first son, Billy, who passed away at age 5 from cancer. My purpose in writing this book was to help other parents who have lost children. The experience I had with Billy was the catalyst to my becoming a Christian. I agree with what you said about the Word of God helping you. It has helped me through many difficult times.The Word, prayer and praising God are what strengthen me. I pray that God will bless you, comfort you and continue to use you in a mighty way! Judy - golightj@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Though my heart goes out to you, Judy, about your son's passing, it's a blessing to see how it brought you closer to our loving God, rather than away. Thank you dor reaching out to others--surely it is He who is working through you, and Susan, to accomplish this beauty. God bless.

      Hope to see you again.

      Delete
    2. Amen Judy. I'm so sorry for your loss-my heart goes out to you. And yes, I needed to see others living after losing. I pray the words bless each reader to deliver what God intends them to receive. Hugs. Susan

      Delete
  7. Hi Susan, how lovely to run into you here. Your story sure does sound like an amazing journey and I pray that God continues to walk closely with you! Blessings, my friend! And to you as well, Elaine. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Marva, thanks for visiting. I'm glad you appreciated Susan's feature. I did receive your contact info.

      Hope to see you again. Be blessed as well.

      Delete
    2. Hello Marva. Thanks for reading Elaine's blog!

      Delete
  8. I've been so heart-stirred this past week by the strong and beautiful woman who have shared with us their stories of how they've continued on in life after losing a loved one, and hope you have too. Thanks to my energetic guest (who responded all the way from Israel!), Susan B. Mead, who helped to inspire such a conversation. I love seeing people reach out to comfort and cheer each other along!

    Susan, thanks too for your BookGiveaway. And the winner of Susan's DANCE WITH JESUS is…

    Joan. Congratulations, Joan. Both Susan and I will contact you via direct email.

    Blessings to all.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Elaine, thank you for inviting me to share with your readers-& for understanding there were times totally without connection in Israel!

    It's been my pleasure and privilege to read and respond to each of your readers. Many blessings to all. Hugs, Susan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kind words, Susan. I appreciate it. Safe travels.

      Delete

Add This