There seems to be a dearth of decent resources for people working through the pain of the loss of a relationship through divorce. A few years ago I visited several bookstores and researched potential books on the internet to use for a small group for single moms. At one bookstore, I thought they had mislabeled the one half shelf that they devoted to divorce because there were primarily books about dating and not much else of real substance that could help myself and the other group members through the various stages we were at in the divorce process. I don’t want to give the impression that all of the literature on the subject is inadequate, I just remember saying yuck a lot when reading the jacket covers.
I was fortunate to have come across Fresh Start Ministries and one of their books titled “The Fresh Start Divorce Recovery Workbook.” One of the authors has experienced divorce personally and was able to share his emotions and experience in a very real way with the readers. The book explains the different stages of divorce recovery (The five stages of grief), biblical insights about divorce, dealing with finances, communication and conflict, singles and sexuality, helping children of divorce and more.
This is a workbook so there are a lot of questions to answer that aren’t always easy to think about, but are usually quite helpful. The authors offer numerous real life stories from many people that speak to a wide array of experiences. Each chapter discusses several topics and within those topics are areas called “Make It Your Own” which help you to really explore where you are at in relation to what they are discussing in the book.
The book worked very well for our small group and brought up a lot of interesting, sometimes very emotional discussions. The book does not have to be used in a group setting and could be very beneficial for an individual to work through.
For more information about the Fresh Start Ministries or their Divorce recovery Workbook go to:http://www.freshstartseminars.org/aboutus.htm