Death of loved ones is always painful. The impact of death is felt in our emotions, relationships, our bodies, minds and souls. What is mourning or grieving? What makes it so hard to get past the death? Depending upon your unique personality, or societal, cultural or religions influences, this may or may not be easy for you. Past experiences of loss, grieved and ungrieved, impact the outcome. Loss of material things, your role in the relationship, role in the family or at work;Loss of friends and role in community; loss of dreams and expectations

HOW TO LIVE WITH LOSS
This is the purpose of G.O.L.D.; to gather wisdom and acceptance, hope and transformation through Jesus Christ We ask the tough question ‘why’ yet that is not the end.  G.O.L.D. chapters include * Introduction to Grief: Life is Broken * Unique Grief: My Broken LIfe *Emotions * Why * Stuck *Change Direction * Integrating Loss * Transformation *Something to Celebrate

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18

Kintsukuroi (keen-tsoo-koo-roy) is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.

When a potter makes a bowl, he forms it by hand with clay. The bowl is formed to the potter’s liking, then fired to several thousand degrees and, once finished, presented as a work of art created for a specific purpose.

Imagine if something suddenly happens and the bowl is broken into several pieces. We then have a choice to make. We can try to keep the broken pieces hidden, hoping nobody remembers the damage. We can try to repair the item using our own abilities which may put the bowl back together, but knowing it will always bear the painful reminder of the damage. Or we can repair the bowl in such a manner that it is not only put back together, but it is more beautiful because of how it now reflects its entire history. The bowl can become more beautiful for having been broken.

As a group, we want to experience kintsukuroi of our hearts and spirits – to take our broken vessels and give them into the Potter’s hand, so He can take our pieces and create a beautiful masterpiece.