LETTERS TO EMMA
A Memoir of Grief and God’s Love
By Lee Carter
Matthias Media. 80 pages. £6.99
ISBN 978 1 925 424 003
This is not a deep theological study on grief, but the author achieves what she sets out to do: ‘reading other people’s stories really helped me get through the fog and storms of grief’. She seeks to encourage and reassure those who are bereaved that they are not alone.
In just 80 pages the author succinctly, yet deeply, expresses the complex, mixed and sometimes overwhelming emotions that accompany bereavement.
Through her grief, after her husband suddenly died leaving her a widow at the age of 48, she tells how God showed her his ‘abiding love and unfailing kindness’ as she clung onto him. There are often unanswered questions in grief, but Lee Carter doesn’t need the answers – the bottom line is that God is an all-wise, loving and sovereign God.
In one of the closing chapters Lee challenges Christians to be more ready to talk about death. In reminding ourselves of the truly good news of Jesus we can know what ‘freedom it is to be released from the fearsome power of our great enemy, death’.
In bereavement, I too have been greatly helped by reading the experiences of others and would recommend this book to those who are grieving. It is an encouragement to know that others have had the same deep pain to journey through, and have learned to trust that God knows what he is doing and what is good for us, even when we cannot understand or see. This book would also be an excellent quick read to give to the family and friends of the bereaved as a helpful insight into the conundrum of emotions that grief may bring to their loved one.
