Healing Grace: Inspirational Poetry for Coping and Closure stands apart in self-help literature in mapping a path to becoming whole again after life-changing devastation. In dividing the book into three stages, Michelle G. Stradford offers a resource that may be turned to whenever and wherever help is essential. Life decimated by traumatic circumstances is the primary theme in the chapter on coping. It acknowledges that pain exists and healing is possible through self-discovery, rejecting abusers, and releasing regret.
Restoration calls for self-examination that will reveal newfound strengths and living in the present. It allows for a back-and-forth process; anguish is not on a timetable. Finding closure is the hard-earned reward of the struggle and a hallmark of healthy life created or renewed.
The poems and affirmations in Healing Grace are readily accessible. This accessibility and sense of authenticity are apparent in the care expressed by Michelle Stradford, beginning with the first few pages. Affirming that solace, support, and guidance to return to a meaningful and valued life can be found, in part, in these pages. While the scars may always be there, they are no longer open wounds. Abuse is no longer a threat because a new outlook will never allow it to return. With self-love affirmed, destructive patterns will have been markedly lessened or eliminated. One of the most moving phrases near the end of the book is a simple "Hello me." Unlike many books that address the same issues, Healing Grace fosters a sense of kinship that will have much to offer to those in greatest need. - C. Stadler
The poetry in this volume is an emotional expression of the effects trauma and abuse can have on the heart and mind of the sufferer.
I loved how this collection encourages personal reflection and emotional growth, and has the potential to serve as a self-help guide for victims of abuse and trauma. The illustrations have a serene, calming effect that matches the poems they accompany.
I recommend Healing Grace by Michelle G Stradford to readers who love poetry as well as those that are searching for understanding and help with their traumatic situations. I hope that Stradford will produce many more similar works in the future. - A. Raines
Healing Grace by Michelle G Stradford is a book of poems that contains some of the most encouraging and inspirational poetry that I have read in a long time. It is a collection that the reader will hold very dear to their heart. Keep it on the nightstand in your bedroom, and after a day fraught with problems and minor mishaps, open it and read, finding comfort and the strength to continue for another day.
Michelle G Stradford has interspersed her poems with beautiful photographs, which are an inspiration in themselves. What a truly moving book of poems, well worth reading again and again for the strength to keep going. Thank you, Michelle, for Healing Grace. - Bernadette Longu
Healing Grace by Michelle G. Stradford is yet another captivating collection of poems and affirmations that seek to help readers walk the path of recovery and healing. "Hallowed" is a poem about pain, how it hurts a person's heart and makes them feel hollow and empty inside. "Untouchable," tells the story of a woman who feels numb and has closed her heart to protect it from pain and heartbreak. A woman's poised beauty, fierce intellect, and cold demeanor hide her inner rage and resentment in "Simmering." "From the Ashes" emphasizes the significance of moving on from pain and trauma and rising above them like a phoenix.
Michelle G. Stradford's mesmerizing poetry strikes a chord in your heart. Healing Grace contains a collection of motivational poems and affirmations to help readers navigate their healing journey with self-belief and courage.
The book is divided into three parts. Each focuses on a different phase of the healing journey titled Coping, Restoring, and Closure. Stradford experiments with structural organization and uses non-rhyming verses and poetic storytelling to convey her message.
One of the poems that resonated with me was "Hidden Doorways," a short poem about deeply-buried memories that have the power to bring past regrets back to the forefront. This is the third poetry collection I've read by Michelle G. Stradford, and I can't recommend it highly enough. -Pikasho Deka
Healing Grace: Inspirational Poetry for Coping & Closure is a work of collected poetry focusing on themes of healing, self-exploration, and acceptance. It is best suited to the general adult reading audience. In this moving and inspiring collection penned by author Michelle G Stradford, we find ourselves exploring three distinct chapters of content from this lyrical and emotive author.
The collection takes us through the stages of coping with the cause of trauma and upset in our lives to the processes of restoring what we’ve lost and finding closure to put that hurt behind us. What results is a moving group of poems, affirmations, and meditations that can be used on a daily basis to evoke healing and guide us through the process with kindness and love.
Author Michelle G Stradford has crafted a poetry collection that is sure to please fans of beautiful lyrics, positive sensations, and finding a balance between the emotive words on the page and the places they touch within our hearts. But more than this, the author also achieves a very special harmony in giving readers intimate pieces of herself whilst also keeping her themes and message universal and open for everyone who needs to access healing.
The section on closure was especially relevant and evocative, and I found that there was still an interesting amount of conflict in the verses under this heading. The author gives readers space to admit that it’s okay to still go through phases of sadness at whatever stage of healing they’re at. Overall, Healing Grace encapsulates every complexity of the road to being healed, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who needs mindful space and beautiful words to help them meditate and be guided through their feelings. -K.C. Finn
