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Prayers, Healing and support for you and for your pets. Share your grief with others who have been there too, add your departed loved ones - and those with Special Needs - to the List for the Candle Ceremony, and enjoy relaxed (even off-topic) conversations with friends, old and new. More>
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Prayers, Healing and Support

ANIMALS & RELIGION - *NEW* AUTHOR'S CORNER WEBINAR - Sunday, April 20th!

April 16, 2008 : 8:35 PM
Join Author Andrea Chilcote as she shares a beautiful story of love, loss and rebirth; the true story of her beloved canine companion Erik and Erik's Hope!

"Erik's Hope: Love...Loss...Rebirth" is Andrea Chilcote's incredible, true audio book account of loving, losing, and being reunited with her best friend and animal companion, Erik. But, this is not just a story about a dog. It's a powerful tool for dealing with the profound grief we feel in the face of loss. Read on as Andrea describes the content of her Webinar:

"In late 1998 I received a priceless gift following the passing of my precious dog, Erik. I had rescued Erik from the Phoenix pound ten years earlier, and he had become my best friend and greatest teacher. Little did I know the most profound lessons would come with his death.

When he died, I was wild with grief and for the first time ever, I doubted my belief that the soul survives physical death. The love I felt for Erik, and his unconditional love for me, seemed invalid if life can end so abruptly. I could not fathom a universe in which one could love so deeply, and then lose that love. If this life was all there was, I no longer cared to live. The void seemed bottomless.

Once Erik was gone, the past as I knew it was over. In the 24 hours following his death, I could not possibly imagine life without him. It was as if a line had been drawn, marking “before” and “after.” I stood on that imaginary line, unable to move forward or backward. This, for me, was a surrender point. If I was to live, I would have to live in the here and now. It was all I had.

With this surrender, a series of incredible events took place. Erik returned to me as a new best friend, Amigo. Being a scientist by training, I was blessed with documented evidence. And without that experience, I would not be the person I have grown to become today. Accepting Erik’s loss is what allowed me to access his re-birth in Amigo.

From the experience I learned that there is really no such thing as “death;” that the very real anguish—grief—we experience with the loss of form leads to transformational healing when we fully embrace it; and most important of all, I learned that love never dies. We can in fact get it back—all of it—even in the form of another being whose soul is shared with the one we lost.

Erik’s soul lives on in my Siberian Husky, Amigo, who continues to love, teach, and affirm my purpose in this life."

This is a Webinar not to be missed if you have ever loved and lost a treasured animal companion...and for all of us who have beloved animal companions we hope will live forever.

We hope you can join us on:

Sunday, April 20th at 4:00 pm pacific, 5:00 pm mountain, 6:00 pm central and 7:00 pm eastern time.

If you are able to attend please RSVP to piper@bestfriends.org and be sure to put the words AUTHOR WEBINAR in the subject line of your email.

This is heartwarming story of love that will leave your heart full of hope. Won't you join us this Sunday?


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April 26, 2008 at 7:32 PM
posted by: SnowMare
WOW Andrea, what an awesome story about Erik adn Amigo. i'd like to hear more about the scientific part of this. As a Christian i'm always interested in such discussions and whatnot. As a writer, most of my essay ideas come from nature and/or my companion critters (mostly dogs).
From the experience I learned that there is really no such thing as “death;” that the very real anguish—grief—we experience with the loss of form leads to transformational healing when we fully embrace it; and most important of all, I learned that love never dies.

As a mom whose daughter was murdered, i agree with you that Love never dies. This has been made so clear to me by God over the years. I wish i had been here for the webinar!
(my book is coming out before Christmas)
and fwiw, i'm convinced, from reading so much literature on animals and also grief, as well as the bible beginning to end, that our fellow creatures are all in heaven with us. no doubt whatsoever. hooray for the afterlife, eh? ....L
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