I had never heard the term "new normal" until April of 2008 when my son Joe passed away. My life and my world had turned upside down. There was such a heaviness in my heart, and my body felt weak. The tears were flowing like a faucet that was difficult to turn off. I wanted to wake up one morning and find out this was all a bad dream,  and I would see Joe again. There was nothing new or normal about this. Many people were telling me that I would need to find a new normal. Since I was not sure what this meant I felt I needed to ask someone. I soon learned that new normal meant that I would have to find a way to live my life without Joe being here on earth. After hearing this explanation, I was utterly crushed. 
When my husband Paul passed away in 2017, I heard this term once again. Many of the same feelings of weakness in my body, tears flowing like a faucet I had when Joe passed away came to surface when Paul passed away. Losing my husband brought extreme loneliness and added responsibility for so many things that I had never had to take care of before. More importantly, I lost the love of my life.
How did I find a new normal after the loss of my son and my husband? I had to learn to put one foot in front of the other, prayer, cried when I needed to cry (still do), and support from family and friends.I have also shared in a series of blog posts ways that have been helpful in my grief. If you would like to read them, they can be found here:

On this day, April 23, in 1983, Paul and I began our lives together as husband and wife. Paul was 28 years old, and I was 22 years old. The Lord blessed us with a wedding day that was filled with love, laughter, joy, and happiness as we celebrated with family and friends. Right now, it warms my heart thinking about what a fantastic day it was.
This is the fourth year without Paul here to celebrate our wedding anniversary together. Honestly, I wish he was still here, I miss him, and I often wonder what our lives would have been like.
Yet, I know I must face reality and continue my life in the best way I can. I'm thankful for the love and support from family and friends. The Lord is with me now, just as He was on my wedding day. His word in the Bible brings me comfort. As I take time to look up the word comfort in the Concordance of my Bible, I found the following verses, and I would like to share them with you. May you find comfort in these Bible verses as well:

• "Blessed are those that mourn, they shall be comforted." Matthew 5:4
• "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13
• "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ." 2 Corinthians 1:3-6
• "God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble." Psalm 46:1

As I reflect on this day, I will take comfort in the memories, I will take comfort in the love of family and friends, and I will take comfort in God's Word.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this, you can greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed with many trials" 1 Peter 1:3-6

Happy Resurrection Sunday! Today we celebrate Jesus rising from the dead after being laid in the tomb, on Good Friday.  His resurrection promises us life in heaven, we need only to believe in His death on the cross that took our sins and believe in His resurrection into heaven.  We can rejoice in this promise and as it says in 1 Peter 1:6 "In this, you can greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed with many trials." We all are distressed with the many trials in this life, may we keep our focus on His resurrection.
Dear Heavenly Father,
We thank you for the resurrection of Your Son Jesus into heaven.
We are feeling distressed with the many trials in this life. Help us dear Heavenly Father, to keep our focus on the resurrection of Jesus. We thank you for the inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away reserved in heaven for us.
In Jesus name, we pray,
Amen

In John 19:30 Jesus said, “It is finished”. Thank you, Jesus, for taking all of our past, present and future sins to the cross. We are forever grateful. Thank you for being our savior. Amen.