About the Book

Book: A Precious Loss

Author:Sharon Fox

Genre: RELIGION / Christian Living / Death, Grief, Bereavement

Release Date: July 8, 2016

Losing a child is the worst tragedy a parent can experience. And yet it happens to many from various causes, including Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), death from illness, stillborn birth, or miscarriage. A Precious Loss offers those who have experienced such a death a window into the grief process. It presents the biblical grief model and the emotions to expect after a loss, and it includes the steps to move forward toward peace and contentment.

While each parent’s experience is unique, this book is written with deep insight and strong compassion. It provides grieving parents with:

· Concrete steps to coping and recovery, including how to care for your health and your relationships and how to cope with emotions and behaviors you can expect to experience

· Biblical support for finding comfort and hope in your darkest hours

Recognition of the hard questions you may have, such as these:

· Why me?

· Was this my fault?

· Is someone to blame?

· Is this some sort of punishment for things I did or did not do?

· Is there a purpose for my child’s death?

· Can I trust God?

If you or a loved one is grappling with the devastating loss of a child, this book will provide hope and encouragement to press on, knowing that God will sustain you through this painful experience.

Click here to get your copy.

About the Author

Sharon Fox is a wife, author, speaker and co-founder of Brave Penny (non-profit). Her heart for those who mourn and struggle with loss has led her to write and teach about God’s model of grieving the death of his son, Jesus.

A Precious Loss, was written for families who have experienced miscarriage, SIDS, infant death and stillbirths. (Spanish – Una Perdida Preciosa)

Sharon published Reframing Adoption, (also in Spanish) and a children’s Christmas book, The Stone Carver’s Son.

She has led a grief recovery ministry for over twenty years. Sharon is a certified grief facilitator and has been a speaker at the National Conference on Adoption and the Anglicans For Life Summit.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

Q: Why did you decide to pursue a career as an author?

A: To be honest – I did not decide to be an author. Although I have written three books, my calling is teaching. I had worked as a professional trainer at the corporate offices of a major retailer for fourteen years. I wrote training manuals and delivered thousands of training classes during that time. In 1993 my husband and I moved to Texas. We owned a small business together. As a partner in the business, I spend a large portion of my time “training” people on how to use the equipment we sold. In 1996 my sister, Penny Scaggs, was murdered by her husband. What could have been a very private event, resulted in four TV network programs and a book by Clint Richmond. Her death became a national story. Needless to say, her death found me ill-prepared to process the emotions which I faced over the years prior to and after the nationally televised trial.

Six months after her death I took a class at my church which addressed grief. By the end of the class, it was clear to me, grief recovery was going to be my ministry. I realized that I certainly was not the only person who did not know how to process grief in a healthy way. I soon joined the American Academy of Bereavement and became a Certified Grief Facilitator. The training for the certification program was all secular. I then looked at the biblical presentation of grief. God’s model of grieving when Jesus, his son died, matched the secular materials in many ways. It created a blueprint of how to move from the chaos of loss to a time of contentment. I added the biblical model, scripture and several pieces I authored to create a six-section program titled Shadowlands — Grief Recovery. Shadowlands is for general types of losses. A few years later, I compiled another program titled Precious Losses. It is for families who had experienced miscarriages, SIDS, Stillbirth and infant death from injury or illness. My book, A Precious Loss, published by Redemption Press, was written for those families who could not attend the sessions in Plano, Texas, but were looking desperately for help.

The book is also in Spanish Una Perdida PRECIOSA. Miscarriages and infant loss of any type crosses all cultures and races. Twenty-five percent of conceptions end in a miscarriage. Seventy-five percent of marriages end in divorce when a live birth child dies under the age of three. The need to support these families is critical. Yet, miscarriage is often ignored by others and met by the suffering families who experience the loss with such a sense of helplessness, and confusion, the emotional explosion is catastrophic. The impact has long term implications. Grief is a season, not a destination. If that idea is introduced to those who grieve, they can be purposeful in seeking a pathway to contentment.

Q: What was your first published work, and how was it received?

A: The first book I wrote was titled Reframing Adoption. (It was not published by Redemptions Press.) It was also published in Spanish. Replantear la ADOPCION

Reframing Adoption was written because of a request from a birth mother who had chosen adoption for her son. She had gifted him to another family. It was an act of love and courage. However, like many other birth mothers, she was struggling with loss and feelings of grief. A few years earlier she had experienced a suicide in her family. I had the honor to teach her about grief and some healthy coping skills to survive that tragic death.

Her decision to choose adoption was carefully thought out. She asked her church to identify a family who could not have a child. She placed her son with the help of a large adoption center in North Texas. In her heart, she knew she had done the right thing. No regrets. However, she had the same feeling of grief which she had had with the suicide. She was given the booklet Bye-Bye Baby published in 1954 when she left the hospital. It missed the mark of grief recovery advice and understanding which she needed to recover from her grief. Several months after the adoptions she again asked me for help. This time she asked me to write a book for her and for those mothers she had met at the adoption center. Literally within minutes of her request, I knew I was going to write the book. I had all the grief recovery materials at hand in the program Precious Losses. I just had to get help from birth mothers to ensure I was addressing their unique needs. I sent the first drafts to a center for teen mothers and asked for their edits and input to be sure I was on the right track. I spoke personally to many birth mothers to ensure their concerns were being addressed. Their input was invaluable.

You asked how successful the book was. Very successful, but not to a large population. The number of mothers who have chosen adoptions is in thousands in the US. Many cultures do not consider adoption as an option. The child is simply folded into the family. Some mothers choose adoption because of pressure from their faith or from parents or the biological father’s insistence. Many mothers have and will keep the birth of their adopted child as a lifelong secret. There are, however, many adoption organizations who are looking for Christian materials for their birth mothers and distribute the book as a part of their support program.

Was the book meant to sell millions? No. It was written to help a few who are hurting beyond measure.

Q: How do you choose the topic for your books?

A: The idea of the second book came from a visit to a pregnancy center in North Dallas. I took copies of Reframing Adoptions for them to distribute to their clients. They were kind enough to say that very few of the mothers who used their services actually returned to the center after choosing adoptions. The director of the center asked me what I had on the topic of miscarriage which was Christian based. She showed me a trifold and said it was the only thing she had to offer to the grieving parents. The materials they were using were medical descriptions of miscarriage and included suggestions on how to care for their health. Again, it only took me a moment to say – “I can write a book on that.” A Precious Loss was published a few months later.

Q: What book was the most difficult for you to write? The easiest for you to write? Why?

Reframing Adoption, my first book, was by far the hardest. It was not because of the topic or writing effort, but rather the effort of finding a publisher who is ethical and invested in supporting their authors. As a new writer, there is so much to understand about publishing. It is so important to choose a publisher who is actually a Christian based organization.

The subjects of birth mother grief and grief from a miscarriage or infant death seem very unusual. Neither of the topics are my personal testimony. They were written because grief is a universal element in the lives of everyone. Our society ignores or judges harshly the grief experience of many who have grief experiences that are not in the “mainstream” of appropriate or public loss. Those who don’t get support due to circumstances are left without resources. Twenty years ago, families who lost someone to HIV were ashamed due to the cause of death. Suicide was and still is a shameful event for many who are touched by such a death. They are not “allowed” to grieve openly due to the shame. Brave Penny the non-profit which I founded, seeks to address all type of losses and to shine the light of God’s love and compassion on those dark places where secrets and shame seem to create so much hurt.

I do know what grief feels like and how it affects all of mankind. I do know that if you love big you will grieve big. I know the patterns of recovery applies to any and all types of loss. That is where I write from – my knowledge of the experience of loss.

The easiest book was The Stone Carver’s Son. (Published by Redemptions Press.) It is a children’s book about how the shepherds knew what the angels were proclaiming when they appeared to them on the night of the birth of Jesus. The main character James, who is the son of a stone carver, was educated in the temple when he was a young man. When he was old enough to work, it became clear he had neither the physical strength nor any real interest to follow the family trade of stone carving. He decided to become a shepherd. He taught the other shepherds about the law and prophets which he had learned in his studies as a boy.

I was in the habit of walking every morning for an hour in an enclosed mall near my home. One morning on the walk, “I heard the story.” The only way to describe this is to say – “It was dedicated to me by God on a walk in the mall”. I came home and sat down at the computer and typed it out. I was God’s transcriber. The book is virtually word for word written as I recalled the story I heard that morning.

Q: What is one topic you would love to write a book about but have not been able to as of yet?

A: I think topic of adult child death needs to be acknowledged with a book to support the parents. Those parents who have experienced the death of their adult child are struggling not only with the death of their child, but the death of their dreams and hopes for the life of their child. I started the book a few years ago. I believe one day God will prompt me to finish that book.

Lately, God has had me working on training DVD’s for clergy, lay leadership, and chaplains on how to understand and present God’s model. I produced a DVD in 2018 to be used as background material for those who minister to the grief-stricken. I wanted to equip them with usable, on the spot tips, which would help them help others. I am currently working on more DVD’s to train leaders on topics which will include suicide survivor’s grief recovery, moms who have had stillbirth and miscarriages, abortion survivors, adoption and birth parents, and offenders who are grieving their “lost time”.

The Non-Profit Brave Penny, (which I am the Executive Director) is funding the productions of these materials. Our power line is Embracing those who Grieve. We want to change the world’s view of grief and grief recovery from one of shame to one that is so well known. Our hope is to establish a normal reaction by those who care for the grievers to offer understanding and useful coping skills to those they serve. Our goal is to stop the experience of being avoided or pressured by others to react in a certain way.. Brave Penny wants to create a knowledge base which will comfort those who grieve and offer to them understanding, compassion and patience as they process their loss in a healthy way.

More from Sharon

Precious Loss (Una Perdida Preciosa– Spanish) was written to present a Christian perspective on the survival of families when a miscarriage, stillbirth or infant death (SIDS) have occurred. A miscarriage or infant death is strikingly harsh and so many times unknown by others, which leaves the mother and family without support or understanding. The statistics tell the story. One in four conceptions end in miscarriage. Seventy Five Percent of the marriages end in divorce when a child under three dies.

How do families survive the death of a child, a miscarriage, or tragic illness or accident that is such a sacred, personal and bewildering lossevent? A Precious Loss is packed with sage advice, coping skills, presentation of God’s Model of Grieving, the Gospel, helpful, authentic recognition of the emotional overload of loss. The book presents the blueprint from chaos, sadness, upheaval, questioning, new and strong emotions to contentment. It presents the pathway to the reach contentment and live abundantly again.

Blog Stops

Quietworkings, November 16

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, November 17

Artistic Nobody, November 18 (Author Interview)

Mary Hake, November 19

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, November 20

Simple Harvest Reads, November 21 (Author Interview)

As He Leads is Joy, November 22

Texas Book-aholic, November 23

For the Love of Literature, November 24 (Author Interview)

janicesbookreviews, November 25

A Reader’s Brain, November 26

My Devotional Thoughts, November 27 (Author Interview)

Inklings and notions, November 28

Just the Write Escape, November 29

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Sharon is giving away the grand prize of a $100 Amazon gift card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/ee18/a-precious-loss-celebration-tour-giveaway

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