{"id":1082,"date":"2011-07-08T05:59:19","date_gmt":"2011-07-08T09:59:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=1082"},"modified":"2011-07-08T05:59:19","modified_gmt":"2011-07-08T09:59:19","slug":"the-healing-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/07\/the-healing-process.html","title":{"rendered":"The Healing Process"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>As many of you know, my husband died almost two months ago. \u00a0We had been married for 49 years. \u00a0It had been almost a decade since his first stroke. \u00a0I knew each time I left the house that when I came home, he could be gone. \u00a0Every time I passed his bedroom, I checked to be sure that he was still with me. Yet, like most couples who live with this reality, our lives together grew closer and sweeter, rather than separate and bitter.<\/p>\n

Three weeks after his death, we had Camp Agape, which is our annual spiritual retreat with our Special Gathering members. \u00a0I cannot tell you much this spiritual retreat coupled with exhaustive work and relaxing fun healed me. \u00a0Special Gathering members are the most loving, caring people in the world.<\/p>\n

This past month has been a sober time of remembering and throwing away.\u00a0 I\u2019ve thrown away and distributed Frank\u2019s clothes and possessions.\u00a0 Additionally, I\u2019ve sorted through my life to discard the things which have held me back from totally giving myself to Christ.\u00a0 This process brought more healing for me.<\/p>\n

I am also deeply grateful for the love that has been shown to me and\u00a0my family.\u00a0 The flowers, donations to Special Gathering, cards, food\u00a0and gifts have been treasures that we will remember all of our lives.\u00a0 The many simple acts of gentle kindness have made me realize how much expressions of love can bring healing to those who grieve.\u00a0 I will never again\u00a0underestimate the importance of a card or a phone call.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As many of you know, my husband died almost two months ago. \u00a0We had been married for 49 years. \u00a0It had been almost a decade since his first stroke. \u00a0I knew each time I left the house that when I came home, he could be gone. \u00a0Every time I passed his bedroom, I checked to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,20,3,182,40,186,49,16,8,85,12,4],"tags":[690,21,688,696,7,699,693,715,701,13,689,57,692,700],"class_list":["post-1082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-church","category-developmental-disabilities","category-disability","category-faith","category-hope","category-inspiration","category-intellectual-disability","category-mentally-challenged-community","category-prayer-2","category-religion","category-simple-truths","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-church","tag-developmental-disabilities-2","tag-faith","tag-grief","tag-hope","tag-inspiration","tag-intellectual-disabilities","tag-mentally-challenged-community","tag-prayer","tag-religion","tag-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Healing Process - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/07\/the-healing-process.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Healing Process - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As many of you know, my husband died almost two months ago. \u00a0We had been married for 49 years. \u00a0It had been almost a decade since his first stroke. \u00a0I knew each time I left the house that when I came home, he could be gone. \u00a0Every time I passed his bedroom, I checked to…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/07\/the-healing-process.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-07-08T09:59:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/specialgathering.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/07\/img_0026.jpg?w=225&h=300\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda G. Howard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Healing Process - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/07\/the-healing-process.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Healing Process - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","og_description":"As many of you know, my husband died almost two months ago. \u00a0We had been married for 49 years. \u00a0It had been almost a decade since his first stroke. \u00a0I knew each time I left the house that when I came home, he could be gone. \u00a0Every time I passed his bedroom, I checked to…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/07\/the-healing-process.html","og_site_name":"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","article_published_time":"2011-07-08T09:59:19+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/specialgathering.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/07\/img_0026.jpg?w=225&h=300"}],"author":"Linda G. Howard","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/07\/the-healing-process.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/07\/the-healing-process.html","name":"The Healing Process - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/07\/the-healing-process.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/07\/the-healing-process.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/specialgathering.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/07\/img_0026.jpg?w=225&h=300","datePublished":"2011-07-08T09:59:19+00:00","dateModified":"2011-07-08T09:59:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/#\/schema\/person\/a10d3530d8432a656d648135fe6da739"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/07\/the-healing-process.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/07\/the-healing-process.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/07\/the-healing-process.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/specialgathering.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/07\/img_0026.jpg?w=225&h=300","contentUrl":"http:\/\/specialgathering.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/07\/img_0026.jpg?w=225&h=300"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/07\/the-healing-process.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Healing Process"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/","name":"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Linda Howard","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/#\/schema\/person\/a10d3530d8432a656d648135fe6da739","name":"Linda G. Howard","description":"Linda G. Howard is the best-selling and award-winning author of four books, including MOTHERS ARE PEOPLE, TOO and THE SECRET LIFE OF A HOUSEWIFE. Currently, she serves as area director of The Special Gathering, a ministry within the mentally challenged community. Additionally, she is the co-publisher and editor of CONNECTING POINT, the ministry newsletter. Her husband is a retired aerospace technologist who worked for NASA. They have three children and four grandchildren.","sameAs":["http:\/\/specialgathering.wordpress.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/author\/lhoward"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/387"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1082"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1091,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1082\/revisions\/1091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}