Season 4 Episode 4: Grief in the Garland: How to Hold Joy & Sorrow in the Same Season

SEASON 4 • EPISODE 4

Grief in the Garland

How to Hold Joy and Sorrow in the Same Season

Home for the Holidays Series

The holidays can magnify what’s missing just as much as what’s present. In this tender and deeply reflective episode, Coach Gigi invites you into an honest conversation about grief, memory, and learning how to hold joy and sorrow in the same season. Grief in the Garland is for the sister who loves God, shows up for others, and yet feels the quiet ache of loss, change, or longing during the holidays.

Through fresh Scripture, brain and mental health insight, and pastoral care, this episode explores why grief often surfaces during the holidays and how God meets us gently in these tender places. Coach Gigi shares a deeply personal story about her mother and a cherished Christmas wreath that became a living metaphor for love, memory, and learning how to honor what was without forcing ourselves to preserve what can no longer hold. This episode offers permission to slow down, give grief a place, tend to what feels fragile, regulate your body, and trust that healing is still unfolding.

Anchored in the truth of Exodus 15:26, this episode reminds us that healing is holy and that God is still Emmanuel, God with us, even here. Grief is not a lack of faith. It is love that still matters. If this season feels complicated, quieter, or heavier than expected, this conversation offers compassion, wisdom, and hope rooted in the love of Christ.

This episode is sponsored by FOCUS: Faith & Mental Health, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization where mental health meets the ministry of hope. Learn more, book coaching, partner with us, or support our mission at https://focusfaithmentalhealth.com/

We are deeply grateful to No Child Goes Hungry for their generous food donations supporting families in Paulding County, and to Publix for gift cards supporting our holiday food basket initiatives. You can also support our outreach and community efforts through our Amazon Wishlist: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3DUJNOXS1DPDA?ref_=wl_share

Coach Gigi’s newest book, Withholding Love: When Intimacy Becomes a Weapon, is now available as an ebook, with the paperback coming soon. This powerful, faith-centered resource explores how intimacy can be withheld as control or punishment and offers biblical insight, psychological clarity, and practical solutions for healing and restoration. Get the ebook here: https://a.co/d/8sD1MEq

Additional books by Coach Gigi include:

My Body Is God’s Gift https://a.co/d/iEwYbVx

Jesus, Lover of My Soul https://a.co/d/8NzA35Z

Beautifully Broken https://a.co/d/a4AViP5

Catch & Release: Seeds of Deception https://a.co/d/bBCiNIw

Children’s books:

Chef Gigi Serves Today https://a.co/d/7cprHL7

Gigi’s French Bakery https://a.co/d/5lUJ9Qy

If you are experiencing domestic violence or feel unsafe in your home or relationship, help is available. You can contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), text START to 88788, or visit https://www.thehotline.org/

Background music: “Be Still and Know.” Written and composed by Geleta “Gigi” Parker. Arrangement and piano accompaniment by Debary Thompson.