Using the grief experienced after her father, a well-known labour consultant, died from Cancer, Frances Carryl self-published her first book this year to help fellow Christians cope when doubt seeps in.
During an interview with the News Room at the weekend, she recalled that her father, Francis Carryl, died on November 03, 2021 and it shook her family in unimaginable ways.
He was 67 years-old. His daughter, now 26, in her book titled: “Grieving while Christian”, discusses her struggle with faith and coping through a renewed outlook on her Christian belief.
The objective of the book is to assure her fellow Christians that they are not alone in their doubts and struggles with faith.
“These thoughts started a few years prior to the diagnosis because I was going through a little bit of my own personal growth in my faith.
“What I was going through and thinking through was this subject in theology that is known as theodicy – that provides an argument for reconciling God which is the source of good and evil in the world. Then when he passed away I had to live it out. In the book, I confront grief head first and I did that because I wanted the readers to know that I understand,” Frances said.
The older Francis died from a cancer that infected an artery in his heart. His daughter said that grief is experienced in different ways but the aim is to give reassurance that people can experience severe loss while maintaining their faith.
From her experience, losing a loved one to a severe illness when you have faith makes you feel depleted and helpless. In the time after her father died, she questioned a lot of what she was taught in Sunday school and church and wondered why bad things happen to good people.
“It just happened almost by accident, it was just a means through which I was thinking through what I was going through and I was trying to flesh out certain questions and in one question in particular, how do we reconcile belief in a good God when something as terrible as this happened and through writing I was able to explore a bit more what I wouldn’t have been able to if I had to sit and speak with somebody,” Frances said.
She eventually gathered her thoughts on paper and in February 2023 the book was published. In July she started marketing the book which can be purchased on Amazon or at the Babe Cave in Georgetown.
She remembers her father to be a good Christian, husband and community leader. He worked with ministers of government and she refers to him as the strength of the family. He was married to her mother, Lavern and fathered two girls.
The woman recalls being able to speak to her father about many aspects of her life and feels as though nothing was left unsaid.
