Hiding in the Upper Room: How the Catholic Sacraments Healed Me from Child Loss
Kelly and her husband Ryan were given a cross that no parent should have to carry, watching two of their children die before their very eyes. For years, Kelly battled numbness, despair, and anger, repeatedly asking God “Why?”
Though Catholic, she avoided attending Mass where she was haunted by images of funerals, by other little children who resembled her own children, by people looking at her with sympathetic eyes or asking her questions she didn’t want to answer. Until one night when God visited Kelly in a dream and gave her the answer she’d been asking of Him. This dream punctured the ice of grief that Kelly had been trapped under and she felt a deep longing for intimacy with God.
Through the sacraments of the Catholic Church, God has given Kelly a way to turn her grief into a mission of love and healing.
“Kelly reveals her gut-wrenching encounter with this unbearable sorrow. She shows each of us … the pain of her cross. We see her pain, bitterness, anger, despair, and brokenness, all symptoms of the burden of the cross. Suffering is real and it’s ugly and it’s very human. This is not only the story of a mother’s grief, however. Kelly shows us the depth of her pain so we may know the heights of Christ’s healing power.” Rev. Garrett McIntyre, Pastor, St. Bernard Catholic Church, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana
“In my grief on the darkest days of my life I didn’t want my cross. I hated the fact that I had to carry the weight of child loss. It was heavy and hard and scary….This book is my story. Of how I clawed my way out of that black hole. This book is so others could find healing in our faith, in the sacraments, and through the grace, mercy, and love that is poured out from the Cross. The tool that was used to destroy our Lord, the Cross, conquered death. My healing journey is just a simple witness to the power of the Cross and the grace and mercy that was found at the foot of it.” Kelly Breaux
“Having lost a child through miscarriage ourselves, we personally know the grief that can challenge a marriage and how that grief can be a stepping stone to the arms of Christ and His mother Mary. Watching our friends Ryan and Kelly Breaux’s witness and their passion for walking with couples who have lost a child tells us that there is no doubt that they are living out their vocation to be balm to the souls of grieving parents. This book is like none other as it follows the heart of a grieving mother all the way to healing.” Ryan and Mary-Rose L. Verret, Founders, Authors, and Speakers of Witness to Love: Marriage Prep Renewal Ministry
This book is written by Kelly Breaux, a native of the Acadiana area! Each book is signed and comes with a bookmark prayer written by Kelly, Prayer to Readers.
Kelly, along with her husband Ryan, are the founders of Red Bird Ministries, a Catholic grief support non-profit ministry serving individuals and couples who have lost someone they love, with special attention for those who have experienced the loss of a child from pregnancy through adulthood, and those who have lost a spouse or parent.
Paperback, 212 pages, by Kelly Breaux
