検索キーワード： 死・悲嘆

Dr. Chauncey Crandall knows his patients well. When they are dying, he sits at the bedside with them and holds their hands. He prays with them. Sometimes he can feel what they feel and see what they see. At other times his patients have near-death experiences and "come back" with astonishing descriptions of the afterlife.

"Okay, Lord, you can have him. But if he must die, I want it to be for something big. I want someone’s life to be changed forever." This is what Laura Sobeich prayed when she found out her 17-year-old son had only one year to live. With this desperate prayer, she released her son to God’s will. At that point, Zach Sobiech was just another teenager battling cancer. When his mother told him to think about writing good-bye letters to family and friends, he decided instead to write songs. One of them, "Clouds", captured hearts and changed not one life but millions, making him an international sensation.

More than 1.5 million copies sold! What if you discovered that the life you already have is the life you’ve always wanted? What if joy is possible right where you are? New York Times best-selling author Ann Voskamp invites you to embrace everyday blessings and embark on the transformative journey of chronicling God's gifts. How can you find joy in the midst of deadlines, debt, drama, and even the death of loved ones? What does the Christ-life really look like when your days are gritty, long, and sometimes even dark? How is God even here?

Life is fragile. But hope in Christ lasts forever. The Bible calls human life a vapor. A mist. A wisp of fog. A flower that springs up in the morning and fades away by mid-afternoon. We like to think we have years to pursue our goals, raise our families, and make a difference in the world. But we just don’t know. The fact is, our stay on earth is really very brief. And when a loved one unexpectedly steps out of this life into eternity, it shakes us to the core. We ask ourselves: Is heaven real?

Chiara Luce, a girl full of vitality, suddenly fell gravely ill. And, strangely, moment by moment, a new life full of light began to unfold for her. She was 18 when she died, yet she had lived to the full. On September 25, 2010, Chiara Luce was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI and is now known as "Blessed Chiara Badano".

Death. It happens to everyone, yet most of us don't want to talk about this final chapter of existence. Sixth-generation funeral director Caleb Wilde intimately understands this reticence and fear. The son of an undertaker, he hesitated to embrace the legacy of running his family's business. Yet he discovered that caring for the deceased and their loved ones profoundly changed his faith and his perspective on death - and life itself.

For years, Christians have been asking, "If you died tonight, do you know where you would go?" It turns out that many believers have been giving the wrong answer. It is not heaven. Wright outlines the present confusion about a Christian's future hope and shows how it is deeply intertwined with how we live today. Wright asserts that Christianity's most distinctive idea is bodily resurrection, and provides a magisterial defense for a literal resurrection of Jesus. Wright then explores our expectation of "new heavens and a new earth".

When Pastor Steve Austin left home that Sunday night, he knew his wife and little boy would never see him alive again. Steve had survived childhood sexual abuse as a preschooler, but the effects rippled through his life for the next 25 years. After nearly 10 years as a youth pastor and worship leader, Steve was convinced that his only choice was suicide. But childhood sexual abuse, addiction, and a suicide attempt were only the beginning of Steve Austin's story. This book is for anyone who has hit rock bottom and is left wondering what to do next.

In times of illness, anxiety, or sorrow, when hope is most elusive, the Bible stands as a beacon of eternal solace and strength. There is much to be learned about suffering, its meaning and its impermanence, from both Testaments. Selections from Romans, Job, and Psalms are among the many passages that will help you understand and transcend pain by reaffirming God's purpose and fortifying your faith when it is most severely challenged.

If you've ever been given empty clichés during challenging times, you know how painful it can feel to be misunderstood by well-meaning people. Far too often, it seems the response we get to our hurt and disappointment is to suck it up or pray it away. But Scripture reveals a God who meets us where we are, not where we pretend to be.

Self-Surrender shows how a theology emerges out of the Rhineland-Flemish spirituality of (Rhineland mystics) Meister Eckhart, Johannes Tauler, Henry Suso, the Frankfurt Priest, and John Ruusbroec that shines life-giving light on the mystery of suffering. From the books and sermons of these pastors, Bjorkman developed Ten Ways to Suffer Well in Union with God: surrender, pray, yield, imitate, co-suffer, participate, love, accept, empathize, and unite, which flesh out the meaning and significance of suffering in new and edifying ways.

As a troubled teenager, Tamara Laroux just wants the pain to go away. Crying out to God for forgiveness, she makes the heart-wrenching decision to end her life. As she plummets from her body to a place of vast darkness, torment, and agony, Tamara instantly realizes the finality of her rash decision and begs God to save her.

"I am the descendant of drinkers and drifters better at passing on their love for the bottle than family history...". Prepare yourself for an unvarnished, harrowing look at one Christian's life. A powerful memoir of knowing and being known by God through the pain of loss, tragedy, and brokenness - Even in Our Darkness explores what it means to fend off doubt and despair, even in the most painful trials. Jack Deere tells the true story of his life growing up near Fort Worth, Texas in the 1950's and the disintegration of his family following his father's suicide.

Frederick Buechner has grappled with the nature of pain, grief, and grace ever since his father committed suicide when Buechner was a young boy. He continued that search as a father when his daughter struggled with anorexia. In this essential collection of essays, including one never before published, Frederick Buechner finds that the God who might seem so silent is ever near. He writes about what it means to be a steward of our pain, and about this grace from God that seems arbitrary and yet draws us to his holiness and care.

When Terri Ann Leidich's 20-year-old son was suddenly killed in a vehicle accident, she was thrown into the roller coaster agony of grief. Adapted from the journal she kept through the experience of her horrendous loss, this book is a roadmap for parents who have lost children, as well as for those who are on the sidelines watching the agony of someone they care about go through the grieving process, and not knowing what to do or how to help. Terri Ann's ability to put emotions and experiences into words that everyone can understand and relate to can shine as a beacon of hope and understanding during a time of excruciating pain.

What will heaven be like? Randy Alcorn presents a thoroughly biblical answer, based on years of careful study, presented in an engaging, audience-friendly style. His conclusions will surprise listeners and stretch their thinking about this important subject. Heaven will inspire listeners to long for heaven while they're living on earth.

In Just Show Up, Kara and her close friend, Jill Lynn Buteyn, write about what friendship looks like in the midst of changing life seasons, loads of laundry, and even cancer. Whether you are eager to be present to someone going through a difficult time or simply want inspiration for pursuing friends in a new way, this eloquent and practical audiobook explores the gift of silence, the art of receiving, and what it means to just show up.

Kate Bowler is a professor at Duke Divinity School with a modest Christian upbringing, but she specializes in the study of the prosperity gospel, a creed that sees fortune as a blessing from God and misfortune as a mark of God's disapproval. At 35, everything in her life seems to point toward "blessing". She is thriving in her job, married to her high school sweetheart, and loves life with her newborn son. Then she is diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer.

Katherine Clark was just an average wife and mother with two young children when she was in a tragic playground accident in late May 2009. A little boy playing on the jungle gym jumped and landed on Kate’s head, knocking her over and snapping her neck. Kate was paralyzed from the neck down. The doctors diagnosed her with quadriplegia and said she would never walk again. This terrifying prognosis could have been the end of the story. But instead, God chose to work a profound miracle in Kate’s life and in the life of her family.

When someone we love is grieving, we want to be there. But it's easy to feel paralyzed, worried that we might say or do the wrong thing. Nancy Guthrie has personal experience dealing with pain and knows what words of encouragement are helpful and what words are harmful. Drawing from her own life experiences - including the loss of two young children - Guthrie has written this helpful resource for Christians who want to be better friends to those who are suffering.