“Hi, my name is Cheryl and I’m a believer in Jesus Christ who struggles with codependency”.

This is the way I have been introducing myself at Celebrate Recovery since 1991 when my husband, John Baker, and I started the program for the worldwide ministry of Celebrate Recovery.

On February 23, 2021, I added grief to that introduction.

John Baker— my husband of 51 years, my best friend, and the love of my life— passed away suddenly and unexpectedly and my world shattered in a moment.

Grief is terrifying and isolating and quiet and loud. It shadows every major life milestone and creeps inside every small breath. It can make you feel as if your heart, your life and your very soul is reduced to a pile of ash.

But we all know there is beauty from ashes.

I found my hope and my remaking in the ashes of my grief and I found it with a group of women who would come to share my pain, my tears and my brokenness. What a surprise to find that they would share my laughter, my hope and my new purpose and that we would grow and move forward together!

We discovered that while the grief will always be a part of us, that there was healing in our togetherness. There was light and love and new life in our bond. We learned to lean on one another and learn from one another. And we realized that everyone should have this same opportunity in their grief.

“Encourage on another and build eachother up, just as in fact you are doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:1