Arkadelphia First Baptist Church offers help for grieving spouses

Arkadelphia’s First Baptist Church will offer a special two-hour GriefShare session on Loss of a Spouse from 10 a.m.-noon on Saturday, July 27.

The information-packed video seminar, free and open to anyone coping with the death of a wife or husband, focuses on common concerns of grieving spouses. The session will begin with 15-20 minutes of welcome and introductions, a 35-minute video and then a 40-minute guided participant discussion, with drinks and snacks. The seminar features interviews with counselors, grief experts and widowed men and women.

They offer insights on:

• What to expect in the days to come.
• How to deal with loneliness.
• What to do with your spouse’s belongings.
• Why it won’t always hurt this much.
• And other practical issues related to the challenges of widowhood.

Everyone who attends will receive a booklet with over 30 short readings on how to live with grief and eventually rebuild your life.

Saturday’s session will be held inside the FBC Education Building, off the church’s south parking lot, in room 112. Participants are advised to enter off Eighth Street. Register or find more information at www.GriefShare.org. Walk-ins are welcome.

First Baptist will offer a more in-depth, 13-week GriefShare program, on all types of grief, from 6-7:30 p.m. each Monday from Aug. 19 through Nov. 11. FBC offered similar sessions during the fall of 2022 and the spring of 2023. The 13 sessions focus on more in-depth topics such as Loneliness & Sadness, Fearful & Overwhelmed, Regrets, Questions for God, Stuck in Grief, Hope & Resilience and many more.

Surviving the Holidays, another one-day session, first offered in 2023, will be held this year from 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 17 at FBC. The two-hour event is open anyone who has experienced the loss of a loved one.

GriefShare encourages participants to experience a “journey from mourning to joy.” It’s also based on the idea that grief lingers for months and even years after the loss of a loved one. No topic is off limits.

For more information, contact Steve Garner at sgarner39@gmail.com or 870-464-7204 or Brenda Sutley at brenda.sutley@gmail.com or 706-457-2721.