Valerie is a grief counselor, author, speaker, workshop instructor, and the owner of Christian Grief Counseling, LLC. She earned her BA in Management of Human Resources from MidAmerica Nazarene University in Kansas. All continuing education focuses on dying, death, grief, loss, and disaster, with hope for recovery, rescue, and restoration.

As a long-term cancer survivor and then caregiver for a cancer survivor, Valerie has continued to serve others with chronic illness and death-related issues. She offers grief support workshops and teaches skills and tools to help others cope with their personal grief and losses.

With her biblical worldview and as a trained member of the Overland Park, KS, FEMA Community Emergency Response Team, she specializes in helping others deal with diverse grief and disaster. Valerie has two adult daughters and lives with her husband in Overland Park, Kansas.

Available Books

Job’s Wives

Job’s first wife is often only remembered for her infamous line “Curse God and die” following the heartbreaking sudden deaths of all ten of their children. Once a wealthy king of Edom Job suffered in every way imaginable. In a single day he and his family lost utterly everything: family property and health.

Learn the tragic truth of his first wife’s fate as we grieve with her during the unfathomable devastation she endured and achieve empathy as we lament alongside her gaining compassionate understanding. We commiserate with her and learn to recognize other people’s grief responses and entertain awareness of our own.

Then we meet Job’s second wife and second set of ten children. Job’s Wives offers a plausible scenario for how the biblical book of Job was written and preserved throughout history and what may have happened to him from a new perspective through the viewpoint of his brother and his grieving wives.

The fictional stories of Job’s family incorporate happy times contrasted against disaster grief loss dying and death. We mourn with them in their losses then hold our breath with anticipation for their return to normalcy as we long for and expect recovery redemption and restoration.

All of society is seeking a hero someone with answers who will help us cope with and provide potential meaning to our private losses. We search for examples to inspire us as we struggle to rise above perilous damages to our individual lives.

Job’s Wives offers companionship to anyone who is struggling with extreme loss and adversity. This epic saga provides a way to personally identify with tragic loss and glean empathy for self and others. Experience ways to cope with intense loss while gaining hope for restoration.

Job’s Wives is for all who have endured and survived intense suffering and wondered why.