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A Hole in the World
- Finding Hope in Rituals of Grief and Healing
- Narrated by: Amanda Held Opelt
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
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Publisher's summary
In a raw and inspiring reflection on grief, a mourning sister processes her personal story of loss by exploring the history of bereavement customs.
When Amanda Held Opelt suffered a season of loss—including three miscarriages and the death of her grandmother and culminating in the unexpected death of her sister, New York Times bestselling writer Rachel Held Evans—she was confronted with sorrow she didn't know to how face. And through her career as an international aid worker, she traveled to some of the world's most troubled regions, devastated by war, natural disasters, and disease. In the wake of these losses and exposure to trauma, Opelt struggled to process her grief and accept the reality of her pain and the pain in the world. She also wrestled with some unexpectedly difficult questions: What does it mean to truly grieve and to grieve well? Why is it so hard to move on? Why didn't my faith prepare me for this kind of pain? Does the Bible really speak to the heart of sorrow? What am I supposed to do now?
Her search for a way to process her grief led her to seek wisdom about how other people have made it through, and she found that generations past embraced rituals that served as vessels for pain and aided in the process of grieving and healing. Today, many of these traditions have been lost as religious practice declines, cultures amalgamate, death is sanitized, and pain is averted.
In this raw and authentic memoir of bereavement, Opelt explores the history of human grief practices and how previous generations have journeyed through periods of suffering. She explores grief rituals and customs from various cultures, including:
- the Irish tradition of keening, or wailing in grief, which teaches her that healing can only begin when we dive headfirst into our grief
- the Victorian tradition of post-mortem photographs and how we struggle to recall a loved one as they were
- the Jewish tradition of sitting shiva, which reminds her to rest in the strength of her community even when God feels absent
- the tradition of mourning clothing, which set the bereaved apart in society for a time, allowing them space to honor their grief
As Opelt explores each bereavement practice, it allows her to utilize these rituals as a framework for processing her own pain. She shares how, in spite of her doubt and anger, God met her in the midst of sorrow and grieved along with her. This book is a testament to the idea that when we carefully and honestly attend to our losses, we are able to expand our capacity for love, faith, and healing.
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- By: Rebecca K. Reynolds
- Narrated by: Rebecca K. Reynolds
- Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Our world is chaotic and often feels dark and devoid of hope. And it’s not just the headlines we see every day. Our relationships are broken. A loved one’s health is failing. We’re disoriented and restless and wrestling with fear. These things are the reality of living in a fallen world. But our God is over that world. He is present in the midst of the daily ache of life. He loves us in the midst of that ache. In a series of 11 letters, Rebecca Reynolds writes to the lonely, the weary, the restless, and afraid and provides perspective and hope to find where God is in the midst of it.
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Words for every heart
- By Adam Morrison on 05-25-23
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How, Then, Shall We Live?
- Four Simple Questions That Reveal the Beauty and Meaning of Our Lives
- By: Wayne Muller
- Narrated by: Wayne Muller
- Length: 3 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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For thousands of years, these questions - which span all major spiritual traditions - have served as beacons for spiritual seekers: Who am I? What do I love? How shall I live, knowing I will die? What is my gift to the family of the Earth? As he guides us through these questions, Muller weaves poetry with true stories of love, courage, grief, and transformation in order to show how beauty and wisdom come to us at unexpected times.
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I really enjoyed this book.
- By Amazon Customer on 10-01-18
By: Wayne Muller
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My Sisters the Saints
- A Spiritual Memoir
- By: Colleen Carroll Campbell
- Narrated by: Susan Hanfield
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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In My Sisters the Saints, author Colleen Carroll Campbell blends her personal narrative of spiritual seeking, trials, stumbles, and breakthroughs with the stories of six women saints who profoundly changed her life: Teresa of Avila, Therese of Lisieux, Faustina of Poland, Edith Stein of Germany, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and Mary of Nazareth. Drawing upon the rich writings and examples of these extraordinary women, the author reveals Christianity's liberating power for women and the relevance of the saints to the lives of contemporary Christians.
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Beautifully written and sincere
- By mamabakineer on 01-23-20
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The Shelter of God's Promises
- By: Sheila Walsh
- Narrated by: Sheila Walsh
- Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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In a world of uncertainty, pain, and struggle, where do you find solid assurance and unshakeable truth? Gifted Bible teacher and inspiring Women of Faith speaker Sheila Walsh offers powerful, heart-filled teaching on ten bedrock promises of God, providing the foundation for daily confidence, joy, and hope. In The Shelter of God's Promises, Sheila searches Scripture for what God has promised us, what God's promises mean, and how encounters with Christ are the eternal fulfillment of His unrelenting commitment to us.
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Love It
- By Amazon Customer on 05-02-19
By: Sheila Walsh
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Prototype
- What Happens When You Discover You're More Like Jesus Than You Think?
- By: Jonathan Martin
- Narrated by: Jonathan Martin
- Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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In Prototype, Jonathan Martin creates a vivid understanding of what it means to be God's beloved. To completely trust, as Jesus did, that God loves us. To live without fear, confident in our identity and purpose. To handle life's wounds as Jesus did, and to wake every day with a deep awareness of God's presence. Martin reveals a startling truth at the heart of the gospel: Jesus is our prototype. And as we discover how the knowledge of being God's beloved changed everything for Jesus - how it set Him free to live out His purpose and love God, others, and the world - it will begin to do the same for us.
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A Game Changer
- By Atalie on 08-09-13
By: Jonathan Martin
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Out of Sorts
- Making Peace with an Evolving Faith
- By: Sarah Bessey
- Narrated by: Joell A. Jacob
- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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In Out of Sorts, Sarah Bessey, award-winning blogger and author of Jesus Feminist, helps us grapple with core Christian issues using a mixture of beautiful storytelling and biblical teaching. As she candidly shares her wrestlings with core issues - such as who Jesus is, what place the church has in our lives, how to disagree yet remain within a community, and how to love the Bible for what it is rather than what we want it to be - she teaches us how to walk courageously through our own tough questions.
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Sounded like a robot reading this!
- By KNimblett on 02-23-16
By: Sarah Bessey
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Becoming Myself
- Embracing God's Dream of You
- By: Stasi Eldredge
- Narrated by: Stasi Eldredge
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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God has dreams - just for you. Becoming Myself is a hope-filled audiobook for anyone who wonders if her life will ever change - if she will ever change. In Stasi Eldredge’s most intimate work yet, she shares her own struggles with self-worth, addiction, and her past as she shows listeners how God is faithfully bringing us to a life of freedom and wholeness. God desires to restore us, and he is able to restore us - the real us. As he heals our inner life he calls us to "rise to the occasion" of our lives.
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Powerful!!
- By Rick on 01-25-14
By: Stasi Eldredge
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Advice for Future Corpses (and Those Who Love Them)
- A Practical Perspective on Death and Dying
- By: Sallie Tisdale
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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You get ready to die the way you get ready for a trip. Start by realizing you don't know the way. Listen to a few travel guides. Study the language, look at maps, gather equipment. Let yourself imagine what it will be like. Pack your bags. This book is one of those travel guides - a guide to preparing for your own death and the deaths of people close to you. The fact of death is hard to believe. Sallie Tisdale explores our fears and all the ways death and talking about death make us uncomfortable - but she also explores its intimacies and joys.
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I thought I had more time...
- By Alyssa on 09-09-19
By: Sallie Tisdale
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My Bright Abyss
- Meditation of a Modern Believer
- By: Christian Wiman
- Narrated by: John Lescault
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Seven years ago, Christian Wiman, a well-known poet and the editor of Poetry magazine, wrote a now-famous essay about having faith in the face of death. My Bright Abyss, composed in the difficult years since and completed in the wake of a bone marrow transplant, is a moving meditation on what a viable contemporary faith - responsive not only to modern thought and science but also to religious tradition - might look like.
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Meditative Poetry in Prose
- By Marianne Murphy Zarzana on 07-21-19
By: Christian Wiman
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The Faith Club
- A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew - Three Women Search for Understanding
- By: Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, Priscilla Warner
- Narrated by: Pam Ward
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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After September 11, Ranya Idliby, an American Muslim of Palestinian descent, faced constant questions about Islam, God, and death from her children, the only Muslims in their classrooms. Inspired by a story about Muhammad, Ranya reached out to two other mothers to write an interfaith children's book that would highlight the connections between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
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Wow I'm so glad I read this. I had no idea.
- By Michelle Pierce on 05-06-15
By: Ranya Idliby, and others
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I Will Carry You
- The Sacred Dance of Grief and Joy
- By: Angie Smith
- Narrated by: Pam Turlow
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Angie Smith was 18 weeks pregnant with her fourth daughter, Audrey Caroline, when doctors discovered conditions leaving Audrey "incompatible with life". Faced with the decision whether to terminate the pregnancy, Angie and her husband chose to carry Audrey for as long as she had life. This began what turned out to be three months of loving and carrying a little girl that was not expected to live more than a few minutes.
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A Child Loss Family Advisor Tool
- By Robin L. Slater on 07-24-17
By: Angie Smith
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The Hardest Peace
- Expecting Grace in the Midst of Life's Hard
- By: Kara Tippetts
- Narrated by: Patty Fogarty
- Length: 4 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Finding grace in the everyday…Kara Tippetts knows the ordinary days of mothering four kids, the joy of watching her children grow . . . and the devastating reality of stage IV cancer. In The Hardest Peace, Kara doesn’t offer answers for when living is hard, but rather she asks us to join her in moving away from fear and control and toward peace and grace. Most of all, she draws us back to the God who is with us in the mundane and the suffering, and who shapes even our unmet expectations and pain into beauty.
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This is a story about living more than dying.
- By vlSchlegel on 03-28-15
By: Kara Tippetts
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You Are Free
- By: Rebekah Lyons
- Narrated by: Heidi Petak
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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You don't have to keep striving for freedom - instead, you can live in the freedom you already have in Christ. In this audiobook, Rebekah Lyons walks you through her journey of releasing stress, anxiety, and worry to uncover the peace that comes from Jesus Christ. Have you bought into the lie? So many of us do. We measure our worth by what others think of us. We compare and strive, living our lives for the approval of others. Pressure rises, fear and anxiety creep in, and we hustle to keep up.
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Need author's voice.
- By Amazon Customer on 04-10-19
By: Rebekah Lyons
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Beyond Tears
- Living After Losing a Child, Revised Edition
- By: Carol Barkin, Barbara J. Goldstein, Audrey Cohen, and others
- Narrated by: Pam Ward
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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The death of a child is that unimaginable loss no parent ever expects to face. In Beyond Tears, nine mothers share their individual stories of how to survive in the darkest hour. They candidly share with other bereaved parents what to expect in the first year and long beyond.
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Comforting and familiar
- By Jeanne on 01-12-17
By: Carol Barkin, and others
What listeners say about A Hole in the World
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Lucy
- 02-02-23
Beautiful ❤️
This is a must-read for working through the inevitability of grief. Read it. Gift it.
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- Leanne
- 12-14-22
Beautiful
Thoroughly enjoyed this book. I’ve been walking my own grief journey and this resonated with me. Thank you
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- Kris Loomis
- 01-19-23
Grieving observed
As someone going through grief, similarity through the death of a sister, this book has educated me, comforted me, challenged me, guided me.
I loved hearing the rituals, and understood when QEII passed why the bees were told.
Thank you, Amanda, for allowing us to observe your grief, and helping us on the long journey.
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- Merle
- 04-27-24
A hole in the world.
Thoughtfully written with an excellent spiritual perspective regardless of spiritual background or no spiritual background of the reader.
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- Randall H. Richter
- 01-29-23
A Wonderful Testimony about Grief
A blessed description of the author mourning personal and familial loss while at the same time exploring and providing a glimpse of historical grief and mourning practices. The book provides an opportunity to participate in the author's grief along with the communal loss of her sister. Thank you for sharing this with the rest of us.
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- Anonymous User
- 06-20-24
I like it, but it felt a little lost at times
I like her style of writing and storytelling, but this was not my favorite. I appreciate the story, but it was hard to follow what the conclusion was.
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-11-23
Language of early grievers
Really good. Emotionally difficult for me at points because she was “speaking my language,” being somewhat early in her grief at the time of writing. She put words to it so well. 🙏
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- Neuroman3
- 01-19-23
Remarkable!
Deeply researched, compassionate account of the grieving process. Moving, with profound insights. A beautiful gift to those of us who came to love her sister.
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-23-22
tenderly narrated by the author herself
this was a great audiobook choice. I love when the book is read by the author. it adds so much depth and authenticity. the topic is imposing but Amanda approaches it in short easy to digest sections. relatable and at time brought me to tears recalling my own miscarriage. though cohesive and satisfying, the book doesn't try to answer every question and allows you to sit in the tension of loss and hope, as it should be with gried. I will listen again and again I'm sure.
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- ChaCha
- 01-01-23
Beautiful and Fascinating.
Amanda Held Olpelt is such a gifted writer and her reading of this book is just lovely. Learning more about Amanda’s own experiences with grief made her so relatable. Learning about so many different cultural rituals from Keening to Casseroles was so interesting. Listening to understand helped me to process more of my own grief.
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