Ashleigh Slater - Braving Sorrow Together: The Transformative Power of Faith and Community When Life is Hard

Reading Braving Sorrow Together is like sitting across from the best kind of frienda friend who has been down the well-worn path of suffering and can listen, empathize, and offer gentle guidance for the journey ahead. If you are walking through your own weeping years, Ashleighs book will free you to grieve your loss while clinging to the hope that you are never alone in your grief.

KELLY GIVENS

Editor of iBelieve.com

Braving Sorrow Together is a healing salve for the hurting heart. Ashleighs words offer comfort and hope as they lead you to both trust in and to lean on the Lord for His strength.

DARLENE SCHACHT

Time-Warp Wife Ministries

Braving Sorrow Together is a powerful and practical ministry tool for the community of Christ, especially when its members need comfort and care. This book not only shows us what to do when we dont know what to say, it encourages us to fight the urge to run from the pain and suffering of others. Instead, we are empowered to forge strong relationships during the not-so-nice times of life, reflecting the gospel as we do. Highly recommended!

KAREN EHMAN

Proverbs 31 Ministries speaker and New York Times bestselling author of Keep It Shut and Listen, Love, Repeat

Ashleigh hasnt given us a textbook or psychological treatise on griefshes given us an armchair, a tissue, and a listening ear. With each story of loss, she turns us back to the grace of the gospel. Watching her grapple with her own sorrows gives me the courage to explore my own.

LISA ANDERSON

Director of Boundless.org and author of The Dating Manifesto

Grief and loss are real. Theyre hard and even harder to talk about. But in her beautiful, honest new book Braving Sorrow Together, Ashleigh Slater fearlessly wrestles with the hard questions, the nitty-gritty issues of grief, loss, and mourning. Filled with real-life stories, practical actions, and sound advice, anyone mired in the trenches of loss will find godly direction and wise counsel as they read this book. Ashleigh has walked the path and knows it well. Let her experience guide you and give you hope.

KATE BATTISTELLI

Author of Growing Great Kids: Partner with God to Cultivate His Purpose in Your Childs Life

Mother of GRAMMY award-winning artist Francesca Battistelli

If you are struggling with grief or anxiety, you are not alone. In this book, you will find a kind and honest travel companion in Ashleigh Slater.

ARLENE PELLICANE

Speaker and author of Calm, Cool, and Connected: 5 Digital Habits for a More Balanced Life

Asheigh Slater provides personally vulnerable insights in addressing an important, heartfelt needthe issue of suffering. She examines a wide range of difficult life situations, including relationships, health, work, etc. and shows how faith and community are keys to navigating this season. Braving Sorrow Together provides biblical wisdom, practical application, and true stories that will help you grow through pain and sorrow and embrace Gods best for your life.

SUSAN G. MATHIS

Coauthor, Countdown for Couples and The ReMarriage Adventure

Loss is a dark and painful reality of life in a fallen world. Ashleigh reminds us in Braving Sorrow Together that we dont grieve our losses alone. We need to brave our sorrows together with our church community, reminding each other that loss is not a forever part of your story.

CHRISTINA FOX

Author of A Heart Set Free and Closer Than a Sister

Ashleighs ability to communicate the importance of braving sorrow while reminding us of Gods love is a breath of fresh air. I have no doubt the words on these pages will encourage many who feel alone in their grief.

CARLIE KERCHEVAL

Cofounder of Learning to Speak Life Books

As I read Braving Sorrow Together, it truly felt like I was sitting across from Ashleigh sharing moments of togetherness in a conversational way. In a culture where slowing down and acknowledging grief is nearly unacceptable, Ashleigh pulls back the curtain, allowing us to be vulnerable enough to acknowledge the pain of loss. She writes not as a spectator of loss but as a participant, sharing the truth that helped her and practical ways that the reader can come alongside someone who has suffered loss of any kind.

SARAH BRAGG

Host of the Surviving Sarah podcast

Braving Sorrow Together is an incredibly helpful and compassionate book for anyone who is hurting or suffered loss. And isnt that the case for most all of us? So many people go through life experiencing grief, disappointment, and heartache. Yet in spite of this camaraderie of sadness, we feel more alone than ever. Ashleigh Slater brings both hope and practical help to a topic that so many of us feel, but hardly know where to turn. Her book is one that youll want to read for yourself, as well as give to a hurting friend.

LISA JACOBSON

Club31Women.com

2017 by
ASHLEIGH SLATER

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 2013, 2015 by permission of Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version.

Scripture quotations marked MSG are from The Message, copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible copyright 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Edited by Linda Joy Neufeld

Author photo: Ted Slater

Cover and interior design: Erik M. Peterson

Cover photo of painted stones copyright 2016 by CACTUS Blai Baules / Stocksy (966794). All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Slater, Ashleigh Kittle, author.

Title: Braving sorrow together : the transformative power of faith and community when life is hard / Ashleigh Slater.

Description: Chicago : Moody Publishers, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references.