Faith & Grief Gathering
In the Spring of 2017 I was asked to speak at a local Faith & Grief Gathering. My talk could not exceed five minutes, and the objective was to share a very short version of my personal grief journey, and how that journey intersected with my faith. I thought you might enjoy “reading” my short talk since I was asked to provide a transcript.
My name is Lisa K. Cooper. I’m an author, inspirational speaker and grief transition specialist. My mission is to help people discover how love never dies by sharing the experiences I’ve had with my mother since her passing.
Before we begin, I must say, I know why you’re here and I’m sorry for your loss. I’m sorry that our losses are the reason we are gathered here today. The holes in our hearts are real, but I’m grateful for opportunities like today’s luncheon for sharing.
Grief Support
Over the last few years, I’ve shared my stories with grievers and caregivers. I’ve learned that the most powerful things we can do include supporting each other, maintaining our faith, and sharing our stories. My objective for you today is to share my stories, for you to have renewed hope, and also be inspired to discover how love never dies.
My grief journey began with my mother’s passing. To make a long story short, she had a relatively simple surgery on September 19 to heal her back pain, contracted MRSA (bacterial infection) in the hospital, and died on October 2. My intersection of Faith and Grief actually occurred the day before she died, when my mother explained to me from her hospital bed that my grandmother (her mother) had been in to visit her and had said that my mother would be walking soon, and assured her that everything was fine and not to worry. My grandmother had passed away in 1985, but when my mother saw her, I knew instinctively that they would be together again soon.
My mind took me back to scripture. Bible verses discussing how faith can move mountains and where nothing was impossible…humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God.
So I accepted, believed, and continued to be amazed at the experiences that had only begun to unfold.
Journey to Hope
My mother passed away on October 2, and within a few short weeks, I discovered for myself how love never dies. I began to write down the “unusual experiences” primarily for my own healing. But I soon began to understand that the hope and peace I felt about life after death needed to be shared with others to help them through loss and grieving. A few years passed, and my book was born, You Are My Voice: How Love’s Voice Never Dies.
Today, I share messages of hope and healing via workshops and presentations to help people understand how love never dies.
Dreams and Signs
In summary, the two key areas of discoveries for me were DREAMS and SIGNS. I began to understand that dreams from our loved ones are visits, when our minds are quiet and our hearts are open to receive. I began to organize and record the dream visits with my mother into various categories including Healing, Advisory, and Life Lessons. In our limited time today, I’ll provide just a few short examples.
My first healing dream occurred just a few weeks after my mother’s passing. In this dream my mother and I were walking and she reached out her arms to hold my hands. She showed me her hands and said, “Look, the (IV) scars have healed! I am healed and out of pain!”
Although all the healing dreams gave me a great deal of comfort, the next set of dreams which I named the “Advisory” dreams, gave me the proof I needed to understand that nothing is impossible. As I was helping my father with the sale of my parents’ home, my mother came to me in a dream explaining details surrounding the sale of the home, as well as exact dates on when the painter was going to be available to meet with me. A few hours later upon waking, the exact dates she shared in the dream were the same dates the painter mentioned when he called. What seemed to be humanly impossible was becoming very possible.
In one of the “Life Lesson” dreams, she told me that “death is just another part of life”.
Signs
The second area of discoveries I received from my mother were SIGNS. Since I finished my book, I’ve had the opportunity to meet with other authors and scientists, and I’ve now come to fully understand that our loved ones all have the ability to arrange synchronicity to let us know we are never alone and that they are okay. Some signs are very subtle while others are much more dramatic.
My personal examples have included unexplained coincidences in the form of radio songs, cloud shapes, license plates, an unexplained message on my laptop computer, unusual bird visits, odd electrical outages and more. Most importantly, this synchronicity tells us that love never forgets and love never dies.
Although these examples are only a snippet of the experiences I’ve had with my mother since her passing, I hope they’ve given you new thoughts and a new perspective on death. I am fully convinced that what appears impossible is possible, and if we open our hearts with faith and love, we will fully understand and experience how love never dies.