Give the Gift of Healing and Hope

It’s been a ten-year journey of writing for healing and then turning it into the book, Twice Blessed: Learning to Live and Love Again.  As I wrote, I felt God nudge me to write this book for widows and widowers, Twice Blessed couples, and anyone who loves a true Christian love story that points out how God is involved in our lives, even in the tough stuff of life—especially the death of a spouse to long-term terminal illness. It is because of God’s involvement that we can survive such loss and be whole apart from our Sweethearts.

Here’s a sneak peek into why I wrote Twice Blessed:

“When my husband died, I was left to seek help and support independently. Once I found a church to attend after his ministry ended, people were not very helpful because they were busy trying to “fix” my grief. No one seemed to accept that grief is an ongoing process. After the funeral, everyone expected me to move on when the “casserole train” ended. I failed trying to work through it alone, so I sought help.

My quest led me to four different books, one of them written from a secular viewpoint. I found some books on mourning from a Christian perspective helpful, but none addressed the full spectrum of my grief journey. How can other Christians left behind when their spouses die from long-term terminal illnesses possibly grieve their loss and navigate their new lives alone? Other people’s stories of their grief journeys helped me see how they worked through it and found a place where they could function again in their new lives. That question churned in my mind, which led me to write Twice Blessed.

My thoughts then turned to using my experiences to help others in this situation. Anticipatory grief began when my late husband was diagnosed, which is an essential part of healing. I wanted to help widows and widowers discover, from that initial sting of diagnosis, how terminal illness forces a couple’s life to change forever, and they can indeed navigate their new lives. I also found it valuable to share how facing loss and deciding whether to remarry are reasonable considerations, not only those issues, but also how grief transforms from pain to joy-filled remembrance years after the funeral. Moving on is an important aspect of healing from grief since God has a wonderful plan for your remaining years on the earth.

My dilemma became: What would be most valuable for you in your grief journey? When my husband died, I discovered that not only was he gone, but I had lost our hopes and dreams, the continuity of our family ties, our daily routine, our traditions, and my personal identity that had once been intertwined with him. A large part of me died, too, which I found disorienting. By sharing these stories with you, I hope to help you identify portions of your grief and encourage you to take it to God in prayer while allowing the Holy Spirit to help you work through those pain-filled places. The journal prompts and related Bible passages at the end of each chapter can help you process your experiences by prayerfully considering your own story. I’m confident you will eventually come to accept how God brings joyful hope back into your life.

My prayer is that you will have several ah-ha moments to help you connect with my caregiving and grief journey so you can view your pain through the lens of God’s Word to find healing. Hope can be found by reflecting on different grief points of this bittersweet God adventure. You can come through it with a new life God has for you. May you find that same hope as discover His work in those moments. He has been with you the entire time, and He still is. I hope this book will help you cling to the Lord during your healing journey so your mourning will turn to dancing. [1] May He bless you with an abundant new life and maybe, if it’s His will, love again.” Excerpt from the introduction in Twice Blessed: Learning to Live and Love Again

If you lost your Love to a terminal illness,  find yourself in a Twice Blessed marriage, or know someone who has lived through such a loss, then this book would be an excellent gift. In fact, if you purchase your copy on Amazon, send me a screenshot of you holding your copy and your receipt, and I will send you a link to the Twice Blessed journal download as my gift to you. You may print it out as you need pages, three-hole punch the pages, and insert them into a three-ring binder. This download may not be shared or sold for any reason. You can gift it along with the book. Contact me at [email protected] to claim your free Twice Blessed journal download.

You can also order coffee mugs, a tote, keychains, t-shirts, and print versions of the journal, featuring your choice of bicycles on the beach or a park bench in a beautiful park, which I photographed in Mount Dora, Florida. If you want a gift package with these items, contact me, and we can work out a discounted price to make that special package a reality!

If you will be in Florida the last weekend of January, come to the WLOV Book Expo on January 25, 2026, in The Villages, Florida, at the Eisenhower Recreation Center from 10-4. I will have some giveaways too!

I am excited to offer Twice Blessed to anyone who needs healing and hope in 2026. As God’s Word says, in Psalm 30:11 ESV, “ You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,”

May the Lord bless you abundantly!

Charlaine Martin

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[1] Psalm 30:11-12