My Journey of Grief, Hope, and Faith

By Jason E. Bouchard

Growing up in the whaling city of New Bedford, Massachusetts, author Jason E. Bouchard enjoyed a special relationship with his parents. He was a momma’s boy, and his dad is his best friend. Bouchard cherished the relationship with his mother, sharing a love for midnight ice cream snacking. She was his biggest supporter in life, and he constantly strived to make her proud.

In February of 2021, Bouchard learned his mother had cancer that spread quickly, and within three weeks she passed away. In My Journey of Grief, Hope, and Faith, he shares his story of learning to live through his grief, offering examples of practices that helped him to adapt and grow. Through the process, Bouchard came to understand his mother lived her purpose and left a lasting legacy for her family and many others.

My Journey of Grief, Hope, and Faith was inspired by his mother’s story and legacy that turned into Bouchard’s story. He seeks to provide hope and support for others struggling with their own grief.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Mar 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9781664293403

Jason E. Bouchard

Jason E. Bouchard was born and raised in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and attended Johnson & Wales University, Rhode Island. He now lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, with his wife, Morgan, and their two boys.

Book preview

Copyright © 2023 Jason E. Bouchard.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by

any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system

without the written permission of the author except in the case of

brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author

and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of

the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of

people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

844-714-3454

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or

links contained in this book may have changed since publication and

may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those

of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher,

and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are

models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-9339-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-9340-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023903354

WestBow Press rev. date: 03/06/2023

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL

VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica,

Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English

Standard Version®). ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by

Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has

been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers.

Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the Good News Translation in Today’s English Version-

Second Edition Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers.

Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally

registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.

The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible, BSB. Copyright ©2016, 2020

by Bible Hub. Used by Permission. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Contents

Dedication

Intro

1     The Story

2     The Final Goodbye

3     Grief

4     Hope

5     Faith

6     Family

7     Support

8     The Journal

9     Fighting Demons

10   Strength

11   Time

12   Purpose

13   Your Next Chapter

14   One More

15   A Letter to my Boys

16   Praying for a Miracle

17   Thank you

A Special Thanks

About the Author

Dedication

This book is dedicated to

PAMELA A. BOUCHARD

A loving mother, grandmother, and wife. Without your love

and guidance in life I would never have had the confidence

to write this book. I know that you are watching over

us and guiding us daily. Love and miss you Mom.

1.jpg

Intro

In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.

– Christian Standard Bible, Proverbs,

Chapter 16, Verse 9

I am not a counselor, and this is not a step-by-step book to help you through grief. I am just sharing my journey of grief, hope, and faith, and the practices that have helped me adapt and grow. Hopefully if you are struggling with grief that you can take something away from this book to incorporate into your life. Or at the very least you can see from my experiences that even through grief you can still experience happiness and joy.

Grief is not something that you can just overcome. This is not battling through an ankle sprain to finish the championship game. Grief is losing a piece of you. Grief changes you and your life. You build and establish a new normal. Through your grief journey you can chose to continue moving forward and molding yourself into who you are after your loss.

Anyone who has lost a loved one understands the journey of grief is a dark and sometimes lonely journey. Grief challenges you in ways that you are not prepared for and can strike you at any moment and leave you breathless. Grief to me also has no specific cycle or time period. When you lose a loved one the pain doesn’t just go away one day, you