The Box Must Be Empty: A Memoir of Complicated Grief, Spiritual Despair, and Ultimate Healing, (Paperback)

Winner of Book Excellence Awards Christian Non-fiction and 18th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards Finalist in Religion Nonfiction and the Winner for Book Cover Design: Nonfiction.

Marilyn Kriete shares her journey through delayed grief and leaving a cultlike group after decades of commitment and sacrifice in this sequel to her multi-award-winning memoir, Paradise Road. Compelling and lyrical, earning five-star reviews and resonating with readers who've wrestled with lingering grief, spiritual collapse, or reinventing oneself when the life we're living no longer works.

What happens when buried grief rises two decades late, upending the life you've built on its coffin? When you add loss upon loss by constantly moving, serving a church organization--and possible cult-that expects unwavering sacrifice? How do you restore a devastated marriage, a crushed faith, and an endlessly broken heart? This is the crux of Marilyn Kriete's crisis. After losing her fiancé and first great love to cancer, she becomes a Christian and marries Henry, joining him in a worldwide ministry that leaves little time for family or personal reflection. When her old grief resurfaces, she's shocked by the tsunami that rips through their lives. Intensive counselling fails to bring healing, and when Henry writes a public letter that decimates their churches and spins them out of the fellowship - and lifelong employment - she faces an emotional and spiritual reckoning that challenges her to the core. In this follow up to her debut memoir "Paradise Road," Marilyn explores delayed and complicated grief in all its many disguises-dashed dreams, disenchantment, family troubles, and the guilt of being a former faith leader, now grappling with depression and dismay. With unflinching honesty, Marilyn shares the missteps and keys to recovering her battered heart, her faith, and her self-esteem. Multilayered and compelling, Marilyn's story will resonate with anyone who's stuck in grief, navigating a mid-life career crisis, or struggling with a spiritual life that's lost its luster or lost its way.