About Joy in the Mourning® the name, the dream, the legacy…

“…for weeping may endure through the long night of sorrow, but joy will return in the mourning.”          –Adapted from Psalm 30:5

Joy in the Mourning® began in 1996 when God put a dream in the heart of a critical care nurse, Linda, who cared deeply for critically-ill, injured, or dying patients and their families. The dream was to start a faith-based center for grief recovery that would help grieving people mourn in healthy ways and return to the joy of living, regardless of their faith or lack of it…or their ability to pay for services.

In 2002, the Joy in the Mourning® Center for Life Losses incorporated as a nonprofit organization. With the help of an incredible Volunteer Board who worked tirelessly to govern the organization and provide services, the Center operated for 15 years on a shoestring budget and provided grief counseling, community education, support groups, and grief-recovery programs at low cost or no cost to anyone who needed these services. The Center closed March 31, 2017 after having helped several thousand people.

Though the Joy in the Mourning® Center has closed, the dream to help grieving people continues with Linda in all she does.  Her heart of prayer is that God will show you that you are not alone in your grief, that He is not playing some kind of cosmic game with you, and that healing your broken heart is possible.

Ashley found Linda August of 2018 after God gave her a similar dream, one where she literally woke up with the name to start her nonprofit called Joy in the Mourning.  Through phone calls, texts, and emails, they quickly became friends and excited to share and talk about the Lord and helping people in this rarely charted territory.  Since Ashley was widowed March 9th, 2005 she has ministered to others who had been widowed by death or abandonment and also to friends and family that have lost children and parents.  In November of 2019, Linda called Ashley to tell her she wanted to give the trademarked name of Joy in the Mourning to her since they had the same heart, and dream for those experiencing loss.   They both agreed this dream is bigger than them, and from the Dream Giver to reach the broken and hurting.  

In February 2020 the official non profit status for the state of Arizona was approved and is now an official 501c3 non profit.

You can contact Linda here on her facebook page.