Elaine Kennelly
As she describes herself in Not Yet Healed: Finding Peace after a Suicide Loss, Elaine Kennelly is only a mom, a mom who lost an eighteen year old son to suicide. But she cannot be defined by that alone.
She is an accomplished business woman who for eighteen years ran an award-winning Hallmark Gold Crown store in Hartford, Wisconsin, being in the top two percent of all all Hallmark owners nationally. During that time, she created her own cable TV show, Elaine’s World, which was very successful locally.
Her entrepreneurial spirit moved to the South with her, and she successfully opened Keller Williams Realty Market Center in Huntsville, Alabama, which has expanded and still flourishes. Elaine is not afraid to plant herself wherever she lives, doing, creating, writing, teaching.
Elaine graduated from Concordia University in Chicago, with a degree in Elementary Education and a minor in Theology. She loves to learn from Scripture and teach it to others. Books she has written include Something Sisters 31 Day Devotional, Faith Over Feelings, and a website, somethingsisters.com. She also loves to write poetry that shares God’s character, especially his grace and love.
Her friends describe her as a vibrant and vivacious person who loves to laugh! You would never really see her scars when you meet her, but they are there, and she shares her personal suicide battle and her journey to joy in this book.
Elaine now lives in Loveland, Colorado, with the love of her life, Tom. They enjoy living there, discovering all the beauty Colorado has to offer, including their lovely family, complete with two grandsons!
About Elaine
God's Guarantee
Believing Grace, Receiving Grace.
Fresh, Daily Grace.
Forgiveness wrapped around me…..Now!
A Garment of Salvation,
A Robe of Righteous..
Fresh, Generous, Glorious Grace.
God’s Eternal Gift
ALL MINE!
Grace…..Always More than I will ever need.
God’s Favor, God’s Love
By God decreed, thru Jesus Christ,
Guaranteed.
Elaine Kennelly
“Nothing prepares us for a loved one’s suicide—the stunning sensation—the disbelief that such a horrible event could be happening. But there is hope...I promise. You, too, can be healed. You, too, can come to understand and experience unlimited grace and the victory it has to offer you.”
Personal Reflection
There are seasons to life, and the most difficult season for me was the aftermath of our 18 year old son’s death, and the fact that it was a suicide. My entire world collapsed, along with my neatly organized knowledge and understanding of God. I had known Jesus personally since I was a young child. I loved him, read about him, prayed to him, studied him, believed in him, married in him, worshiped him.
And after years of life struggles with our son, I saw a beautiful rainbow and thanked God—in advance for healing our son, Matthew. I really felt that Matt would have a testimony of overcoming depression and changing bad habits. He would be healed, and I would praise God!
Two weeks later Matthew took his life, and I had to ask myself, “What do I know about God?” The answer was—not much. The collapse of my beliefs was quick and full of anger. Where was the God I knew?
I came to understand that I had put my God in a little box—one that I could understand and even teach to others, one that I could pray to and out would pop my blessing, one that was so small I could manipulate, maneuver, and manage.
I demanded answers from God, and when none came, I stubbornly stuffed all my feelings inside and thought I could live life without him.
But my Savior, Jesus, was faithful. He never left me. He gradually healed me. He taught me about himself, and through it all, I learned he loved me—more than I will ever know or ask or imagine. I learned about faith, forgiveness, sovereignty, and surrender.
I learned to know God in all his fullness and to trust his unfailing, never-ending, faithful love for me. I learned that God’s grace always wins!