Struggling after recent death in family

Hi all,

I'll be honest: I'm very surprised at being here virtually. This is NOT at all where I expected to be at the age of 25.

(Context: I was born into the Christian sect known as Jehovah's Witnesses. Due in part to the oppressive nature of that religion, and due in part to the greater scientific knowledge I gained from the Internet, I felt I had reason to de-convert from that faith at 15. I stopped attending Jehovah's Witness (JW) services entirely at 18, so it's been 7 years.)

I'm here because within the past two months, both my aunt and grandmother died. My aunt got diagnosed with late stage lymph cancer and died within weeks of her diagnosis. That was early last month. My grandmother got COVID in early 2022. Her decline was slower. She died about two weeks ago.

This isn't meant to be an ask for pity directly, though your condolences are appreciated. What this got me thinking about was the possibility and presence of an afterlife.

To provide extra context, I have spent the better part of the past 7 years as an agnostic atheist. Early after I stopped going to JW services, I would even consider myself an anti-theist. Totally against religion and faith entirely.

So this isn't a question of, is this normal, but rather, have any of you come to religion after trauma? Have any of you come to Anglicanism specifically after being an atheist or agnostic? How was that experience for you, if so?

I'm attracted for some reason to Episcopalianism (I am American). I'm planning to talk with a counselor to also help with religious trauma, but I'm also speaking with other ex-JWs about this. (Just so you know.)

The tl;dr is some close family died recently and I'm drawn back towards faith and religion again after de-converting years ago. Does this reflect any parts of your faith journey? If so, how has that impacted your faith today?