Finding Reasons to Live After Devastating Loss

The loss of a loved one is the most excruciating pain we are called to bear. But few of us can imagine the depths of darkness that Betty Jones endured after the deaths of her three children and her husband. Lost in the valley of shadow, she was psychologically and spiritually devastated but did not seek professional help due to the cultural stigma against mental health care. Destroyed by grief, many days she would get up in the morning only to spend all day on the couch, hiding her face under a pillow. But one day, she saw her nine-year-old grandson staring at her, his face full of fear of abandonment, and she knew that no matter how hard it might be, she had to live for her grandchildren—she had to keep the promise she had made to her terminally ill daughter. At that moment, Betty began her journey back to God and self in the face of terrible suffering. She writes: I wonder sometimes if I had to die in order to live, so that I could tell women all over the world who find themselves in the midst of depression that there is a way back out . . . .Thus, I am filled with gratitude for what God has done in my life. Compelling, heartfelt, and profound, Dying to Live is a memoir that offers resonance and inspiration to every woman who has faced or is dealing with life-changing trauma.

Reverend Betty R. Jones, PhD, has been the pastor of County Line United Methodist Church in Ellenwood, Georgia for thirteen years. Dr. Jones founded and directs the church’s literacy program. For twelve years, she was an adjunct professor for Ministry and Context at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia, where she also directed a mentoring program for first-year seminarians and post-graduates. She is the recipient of numerous honors, including the W.E.B. DuBois Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Jones resides in Douglasville, Georgia, and is the proud grandmother of Gerald, Ryan, Nasyir, and Atya; and great-grandmother of Ayden, Jace, and Aleechia.