If you can forecast misery, you also are capable of forecasting JOY.
This poignant picture book helps children (ages 4 to 8) understand the complexities of grief, death, and dying in an honest, hopeful way.
In a quaint coastal town in Maine, a young girl and her family grapple with the death of a loved one. With the help of a surprising new friend, Lela walks through different seasons of grief. Along the way, she learns meaningful lessons about loss and how to find hope and joy amid the sadness.
Tenderly written and illustrated, this heartwarming, fictional tale equips children to cope with the confusing and conflicting emotions that come with the death of a loved one. For parents and caregivers, this book helps them initiate important family discussions about grief and loss.
“I have watched Clarissa guide her children through loss with honesty, messiness, and magic. This book somehow captures those qualities of grief and hope. With gentleness and wonder, she nurtures readers toward peace.”
—Melissa Zaldivar, author of What Cannot Be Lost and host of the Cheer Her On podcast
“Hope Comes to Stay is the kind of compassionate book that enfolds the reader and says, ‘I see you.’ There are no cloying cliches or platitudes here, only wise, honest, and hope-filled words alongside richly layered illustrations depicting family life after the death of a parent. A much-needed addition to children’s bookshelves, and a trustworthy resource to give to grieving families.”
—Marissa Burt, author of Storybound
“Through stunning illustrations and gentle storytelling, Hope Comes to Stay will bless families navigating the painful road of loss.”
—Phylicia Masonheimer, blogger author, speaker, and podcast host
Features
Beyond Comfort
Believers want to be helpful when they tell children who’ve experienced loss that they will see their loved one again in heaven someday, but this encouragement doesn’t address the many complex and contrary emotions that children will feel as they walk through grief. Hope Comes to Stay deals with the myriad feelings that children will experience as they face loss.
Teaching Through Storytelling
Fiction can be a powerful tool for sharing important lessons with young and old alike. The story of Lela and her family shows, not tells, children how they can walk through the different seasons of grief with hope and courage.
Soft and Soothing Illustrations
Gretchen Ellen Powers’ stunning watercolor illustrations adorn the book throughout and complement the writing in a powerful way. Parents and children will be comforted by these lovely images depicting Lela’s journey through grief.
Available for purchase at
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My daughter Fiona and I wrote this book together for grieving teens and their caregivers, family, and friends.
After the death of a loved one, anyone can be caught up in a whirlwind of emotions and unanswered questions. Hurt Help Hope divides lists of relatable questions into five categories covering topics like the logistics of funerals, how your body copes with grief, how it affects your faith in God, how to manage feelings, and more!
“God delights in you, and even when the darkness feels darkest, He won’t abandon you.”
“As you walk close to Jesus, you’ll find that the new you, refined by the fire of suffering, is a beautiful thing to behold.”
Features
Credibility and vulnerability of the authors:
The authors aren’t writing about grief from a theoretical or clinical place – they are walking through it themselves. Their deeply genuine and empathetic words will comfort readers like a friend.
Written by a teen and her mom for grieving teens.
Fiona shares her experience grieving the death of her father as a teenager. Clarissa shares insights from her family's life as they learned to live without their dad.
An excellent balance of theology and helpful, practical advice.
Grounded in Jesus:
There are encouraging truths about our hope in Jesus and how our theology as Christians can be a great comfort in the face of death.
Question-and-answer format:
Each chapter is made up of questions teens may have as they experience grief. The authors don’t write in a clinical or theoretical way, but in a conversational tone, sharing what they’ve learned like an encouraging friend.
Engaging quizzes, charts, and graphs
help to processes fears, feelings, and all the hard things.
Available for purchase at
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As you walk with sorrow and suffering, Jesus walks beside you, too.
Walking through grief after the loss of a loved one can feel like the most isolating and distressing experience you've ever endured. It's normal to long for a life beyond your sadness. Some days, resurrection feels a hopeful breath away. Other days, our grief reveals to us the gulf that stands between where we are and where we long to be.
In this beautiful devotional, join bestselling author Clarissa Moll on a 40-day journey through grief―and discover the loving presence of Christ that never leaves your side. The prophet Isaiah described Jesus as “a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.”
While this devotional cannot fix your deepest grief, these pages will reorient, strengthen, and sustain you as you traverse this new terrain of loss.
Powerful and honest reflections about pain, death, loss, and the resilient hope and healing within Scripture
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Written prayers for when you don’t have the words for your sorrow
Compassionate and practical activities to guide you forward on your grieving journey
Wherever your grief journey takes you, dear friend, you will find God there. May the words in these devotions remind you of his loving presence and give you the comfort and courage to live fully again.
Available for purchase at
Amazon Barnes and Noble Books A Million Tyndale Christian Book
Sorrow is a dark and painful road. You don’t need to walk it alone.
The Bible says that “God is near to the brokenhearted,” but what does that look like when you’re lost in the darkness of agonizing grief? How do you engage with your sorrow when the world tells you to shoulder through or move on?
Award-winning writer and podcaster Clarissa Moll knows this landscape of loss all too well. Her life changed forever in 2019 when her husband, Rob, died unexpectedly while hiking―leaving her with four children to raise alone. In her debut book, Beyond the Darkness, Clarissa offers her powerful personal narrative as well as honest, practical wisdom that will gently guide you toward flourishing amidst your own loss.
“In these pages readers will find someone who “gets it,” someone who has felt the loneliness and the fears that are part of grief, someone who knows what it is like to want the load of grief to lighten while at the same time relishing the way grief helps us to feel close to the person we love who has died.”
“In tender prose Clarissa Moll takes our hand and walks with us through the dreadful journey that is grief. She reintroduces us to our loving God, reminding us with awe that God, too, endured the grief of the death of his own Son and yet through that death has removed death’s sting forevermore.”
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