Readings from "A Grace Disguised" by Gerald L. Sittser

This book was given to me by Abigail's sweet piano teacher, Mrs. Borries. Thank you Barbara! The book has meant a lot to me! I only pray that I can pass it on to another some day and it can help them as much!
Some parts that have meant a lot to me:

"It is not the experience of loss that becomes the defining moment of our lives, for it is inevitable. It is how we respond to loss that matters. That response will largely determine the quality, direction and impact of our lives."

"Loss is like a terminal illness. There is nothing we can do to spare ourselves from such sickness, except perhaps put it off for a while. But there is another sickness that we can heal- the sickness of our souls. If we face loss squarely and respond to it wisely, we will become healthier people. We will find our souls healed, as they can only be healed through suffering."

'The loss (of Travis) set me on a course down which I had to journey whether I wanted to or not. I faced the test of my life. One phase of my life had ended; another, the most difficult, was about to begin."

"Living means changin, and change requires that we lose one thing before we gain something else. Thus we lose our youth but gain adulthood. We lose the security of home but gain the independence of being on our own. There is continuity and een security in this process. We remember the losses that lie behind us, and we look forward to the gains that lie ahead. We live between the familiar past and the expected future. But there is a different kind of loss that inevitably occurs in all of our livves, though less frequently and certainly less predictably. This kind of loss has more devastating results, and it is irreversible. If normal, natural, reversible loss is like a broken limb, then catastrophic loss is like an amputation. The results are permanent, the impact incalculable, the consequences cumulative. Each new day forces one to face some new and devastating dimension of the loss. It creates a whole new context for one's life.
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