How can you continue to live when the person you most love is no more? Author Autumn Brown, in The Raw Truth: A Widow’s Journey, tells the moving and poignant tale of losing her husband, Chris, and how she discovered the will to keep on.
Chris was not merely her spouse. Her soul lover, closest friend, and focal point of life was him. It seems as though she died, too, when he passed away. Autumn brings the real anguish of loss—how it affects not only the psyche but also the body. She talks of numerous questions, sleepless nights, and months of chest discomfort. The most important one; “Why?” Why did this come to pass? Reason him? Why today?
Her religion was particularly shaken by grief. She turned against God in wrath. Once her haven, church started to hurt too much to deal with. Her heart cracked, and her beliefs collapsed. But what followed makes Autumn’s story so compelling.
She decided to heal rather than remain mired in the agony. She went back to pray at church. She sought a therapist. She then started to reconstruct, not the life she had but rather a new one with loss woven in. She neither tried to pretend to “move on” or disregard the suffering. She decided to live with rather than against loss.
One of the book’s most crucial teachings is that loss profoundly signifies you are loved. The love was that real, thus if the suffering seemed intolerable. And hardly everyone gets to feel that type of intense, all-consuming love. Autumn is appreciative of this.
What distinguishes this work is her candor. She is not sugar-coated about anything. She talks of the dark times, the rage, the loneliness—but also of optimism. She reminds readers that there is no “correct” approach to going through loss. Everybody travels in a different direction, and that’s OK.
The Raw Truth: A Widow’s Journey transcends widows. It is for everyone who has experienced loss, battled with faith, or felt lost in the wake of grief. For those helping someone through loss, it also teaches patience, presence, and the value of even little deeds of compassion.
Autumn’s narrative across each chapter reveals that healing does not equate to forgetting. A life ends; love does not. It alters form, yet it remains with you. And strength resides in that love.
This book is for you if you have ever felt as though nobody really knows your suffering. Yes, it is unpacked and rife with optimism. Autumn Brown tells us that we are not alone and that even on our hardest days, we can keep on.
Now available on the official website and Amazon, The Raw Truth: A Widow’s Journey invites you to travel this amazing story of love, loss, and healing.