When you suffer a loss, you enter the realm of "used to be." You used to be married. You used to be employed. You used to be pregnant, secure, healthy, sober, thin. You used to be a son or daughter, a brother or sister, a mother or father. And in that used-to-be space there is deep emptiness, loneliness, and sorrow. It's a place we all dwell for a while. But it's not a place in which we are meant to remain.

The path forward includes exploring the unseen elements of grief. With this book, pastor Chuck Elliott and counselor Ashley Elliott light the way to a better future. Sharing biblical advice and proven mental health techniques, they help you learn how to fully feel and face your grief, hold onto your faith, and develop healthy ways to see yourself, your life, and your loved ones. They offer coping strategies for when moving forward seems impossible and guide you toward building new thinking patterns that will result in true healing and growth.

If you want both a man’s and a woman’s perspective, are willing to put in the work, and need real change, then Chuck and Ashley are your marriage coaches.

Church is supposed to be a place for meaningful connection—a community that worships, prays, and participates together with the singular purpose of glorifying God. But sometimes that unity is fragile. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we want to love each other well, but problems inevitably creep in, causing divisions. The apostle Paul reminded the church to “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3).

Life-Minded draws our attention to the reality of that text: it does take effort to stay unified with our spiritual family! Saying it like it is, but saying it with grace, Pastor Brady Boyd echoes Paul's words in a contemporary context with 8 practical challenges to put peaceable unity into action. Accept the challenges by yourself or with others in a group, and experience the harmony God intended for His eternal church.