Help for the Hurting
Are you hurting?
Are you seeking answers in your own journey with grief?
Do you know someone who needs encouragement?
Our friends at The Grief Toolbox have taken on the ambitious and important task of providing resources to help those who are dealing with loss. Their goal is to be an all-encompassing place for grief tools: a singular area where a person can find all the resources they need to help them in their journey.
The Unwanted Gift
"Only one year ago, my world as I had known it for almost forty-nine years took a sudden and dramatic turn. Only hours earlier, Jeannie had looked up at me from her pillow and whispered the last six words she would speak in this life, 'Love you! Love you! Love you!' I had gathered her in my arms and said, 'Jeannie! Run to Jesus!' Now, she had done just that."
In The Unwanted Gift, Tom Elliff shares how he and his wife, Jeannie, came to view their toughest challenge as a gift. Through biblical study and reflection on a personal trial, he teaches how to accept that hardships bring life’s greatest measure of God’s grace and power. Our most painful problems, though unwanted, can truly be gifts from God
Probably the greatest personal inspiration behind the character of Ava was a woman name Jeannie Elliff...
I watched Jeannie walk through multiple battles with cancer with a grace, sense of humor, and strength that I can't muster even on my best days. With her husband Tom by her side, they represented so much of what I wanted to demonstrate in Ben and Ava's story. They were a couple completely, madly in love and dedicated to each other. They were a couple who's faith could move mountains and whose spirit in the midst of their storm made them all the more beautiful to behold. Heartbreakingly, but perhaps fittingly, Jeannie Elliff went to be with Jesus on the very night that we shot the scene you see portrayed above - the scene where, with her husband's help, Ava embraces her diagnosis with strength and grace. It was an emotional day that I will never forget. Now you can read all about her story through her husband Tom's beautiful book "The Unwanted Gift". I pray it is a source of healing and inspiration for anyone who is struggling with an unwanted gift in their own lives. Tom Elliff is one of my favorite writers and I guarantee you cannot walk away from this book unchanged or without hope...
Much Love,
Erin Bethea
{Click on the book to purchase!}