Review: Sharing Christ with the Dying: Bringing Hope to Those Near the End of Life by Melody Rossi

Review: Sharing Christ with the Dying: Bringing Hope to Those Near the End of Life

Melody Rossi

Bethany House Publishers

2014

This book is the most helpful work I have read in this topic area.  She speaks to those that find themselves in the role of caregiver, friend, or close family member of one that is dying.  The information and advice is useful, helpful, gentle, and presented well.  The revelation of the terminal diagnosis of a loved one is the start point, and the author follows the entire process step by step throughout her book.

The different stages the loved one will go through physically and emotionally show the caregiver different levels of receptivity to considering Christ.  Rossi addresses how to deal with angry outbursts, demanding behaviors from the loved one, and the physical stages of the dying process.  Other issues like the roles of friends and family members gives the reader valuable insights as well. 

Pre-need planning appears later in the book and Rossi discussed how helpful having important papers, directives, and desires ready for the surviving family can be.  So much stress can be alleviated if that is settled well before the need arises.  

There is much more in this book that I found helpful and wished I’d known long ago.  There is also an index with many helpful resources to check out.  

One note---this book was originally published in 2007 as May I Walk You Home.  I do not know if this issue is different in any major ways.  That said, I do recommend this book and found much of her advice to be pertinent in other situations as well.

This book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for a review.