Skip to main content

'I Looked to God': Facebook Exec Recalls How God Helped Through Time of Grief

CBN

Share This article

Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg recently opened up about the death of her husband and how she relied on God to help her grieve.

Sandberg sat down with mega church pastor Billy Hybels Thursday at at Willow Creek Community Church's annual Global Leadership Summit to discuss how the trauma changed her. 

"It felt like the grief would never end. I turned to my friends," she explained, recalling how her husband suddenly died in 2015 after falling off a treadmill during a vacation with family and friends.

Her husband's sudden death after 11 years of marriage meant she had to raise two children on her own.

"I turned to other people's experiences. I looked to God for comfort, I looked to tradition. And sometimes it worked and sometimes it just didn't," Sandberg said. 

Now, Sandberg is helping others deal with their grief. She co-authored a book called Option B.

She says she had to learn how to live life while carrying immense grief. Sanberg says she had to learn how to become resilient.

"I had no choice but to wake up every day. No choice but to get through the shock, the grief, the survivor guilt, no choice but to try and move forward and be a good mother at home. No choice but to try and focus and be a good colleague at work," Sandberg writes in the book. "To fight for change tomorrow we need to build resilience today." 

While Sandberg admits she does not have all the answers, she hopes her experience will help people.

"I'm still finding my way through and learning many of the lessons included here. Like so many who've experienced tragedy, I hope I can choose meaning and even joy -- and help others do the same," she writes. 

Share This article