L.I.V.E. – Love Infinite, Vigorously Exercised

  • When Grief Asks for a Companion: The Quiet Ministry of Showing Up

    Grief has a way of exposing the deepest truth about the human soul, we were never created to carry sorrow alone. In the world of pastoral care and Christian counseling, we often encounter people at the most fragile edges of their humanity. Sometimes their grief is loud and disruptive; other times it hides in quiet…

    Ze Selassie

  • When Grief Needs a Village: How Community Becomes a Healing Sanctuary

    Grief is not a problem to solve; it is a journey to be accompanied. I have learned that the deepest healing does not happen in isolation. It unfolds inside safe, and compassionate communities; what Scripture calls koinonia, a shared life where burdens are carried together and no one walks through the valley alone. The insights…

    Ze Selassie

  • When Grief Finds a Circle: How Healing Happens in Community

    Grief has a way of convincing us that we are safer alone. When the heart is shattered, the natural instinct is to retreat away from noise, away from expectation, away from eyes that may not understand. Yet again and again, in pastoral care and grief companionship, I have witnessed a profound truth: Grief eases its…

    Ze Selassie

  • Grief Needs a Circle: Why Companionship Heals What Isolation Cannot

    There are some seasons of loss that you simply cannot survive alone. You can keep functioning, of course. You can show up at work, respond to messages, serve at church, and say “I’m fine” with a semi-convincing smile. But deep inside, grief sits like a weight on your chest, pressing down your breath, your voice,…

    Ze Selassie

  • When Grief Moves in With Us: Becoming a Gentle Companion to Hurting Families

    Grief doesn’t knock politely before it enters a home. It moves in through job losses and diagnoses, through miscarriages and funerals, through betrayals, relocations, estrangements and “we just don’t talk anymore.” By the time many couples or families reach out for help, the symptoms look like anger, shutdown, porn use, rebellion, nagging, stonewalling, depression, “attitude,”…

    Ze Selassie

  • When Grief Knocks: Why Companionship Heals More Than Advice

    Grief companionship is a ministry of presence, not answers. Learn how to walk with the bereaved in emotionally honest, biblically grounded, and psychologically wise ways, with practical steps for churches, families, and friends. What hurting people need first: a companion, not a fixer When loss breaks into someone’s life, most of us reach for words;…

    Ze Selassie

  • Grief Companionship: The Sacred Work of Seeing People Whole

    Grief is not a problem to be solved; it is a person to be seen. When sorrow enters a life, what heals first is not a clever answer but a faithful presence. In pastoral care and Christian counseling, our task is to sit close to the ache, to name reality without reducing it, and to…

    Ze Selassie

  • Understanding Grief: Compassionate Presence and Assessment

    Seeing Through Tears: The Sacred Art of Grief Companionship Grief is not a problem to be solved, it’s a story that needs to be witnessed. When we sit beside a grieving soul, we’re not just listening for pain; we’re attending to the sacred evidence of love. In Christian counseling, grief companionship is not about offering…

    Ze Selassie

  • When Grief Visits Home: A Pastoral Guide to Companionship, Comfort, and Courage

    Grief does not keep tidy hours. It arrives in delivery rooms where joy and exhaustion mingle, at kitchen tables strewn with homework and unpaid bills, and in sanctuaries where candles flicker beside a child’s photograph. As pastoral caregivers and Christian counselors, our calling is not to explain pain away but to accompany it; patiently, prayerfully,…

    Ze Selassie

  • When Love Learns a New Language: Practicing Grief Companionship

    Grief changes the way we breathe, speak, remember, and pray. It can turn ordinary rooms into sanctuaries and familiar dates into landmines. In those fragile spaces, the most healing gift isn’t a technique, it’s presence. True grief companionship begins with a calm, sacred posture that validates sorrow, protects dignity, and offers wise, timely guidance without…

    Ze Selassie