While We're Waiting® - Hope After Child Loss

How do you keep going when the heaviness of grief is such a big part of every day life? How do you embrace new blessings while continuing to mourn all that you've lost? In this second half of my conversation with Markie Ribera, we explore what it means to keep going after unimaginable loss ... not by moving past our grief, but by learning to carry it alongside the joy and hope we have in Chri...

How do you keep going when your whole world has been turned upside down? When the life you knew is gone, and the future you imagined looks nothing like you expected? In February of 2022, Markie Ribera and her husband, Carlos, lost their four young children - Kathryn, Kaleb, Kristian, and Kasper - along with Markie's mother in a devastating house fire. In a single night, they lost not only the...

How do we choose to hold on to God's truth when grief makes it so easy to doubt? In the second half of my conversation with Dennis and Debbie Jordan, we continue exploring Debbie's book, Grief's Deception: Overcoming the 12 Lies Whispered to a Broken Heart . Dennis and Debbie lost their six-year-old son Ryan to leukemia in 1985, and their nearly 41-year journey has given them a uniq...

What happens when the lies grief whispers begin to feel more believable than the truth of God's Word? Dennis and Debbie Jordan know that struggle well. In 1985, their six-year-old son Ryan went to Heaven after a three-and-a-half-year battle with leukemia. In the nearly 41 years since, they've experienced the depths of grief, wrestled with difficult questions, and discovered the faithfuln...

What happens when everything we thought we understood about God is suddenly turned upside down?  That's what Scott and Shelly Myers had to grapple with after the sudden death of their 11-year-old son, Will.   Will was an old soul ... a bright, compassionate boy who loved books, stories, Scripture, and Jesus. He also lived with some significant health challenges, including a serious heart cond...

How do we keep moving forward after the loss of a child?   In the second half of my conversation with Jackie Baker, author of Messy Mourning: Hope for Mothers Grieving the Loss of a Child by Suicide , we turn to some of the practical challenges grieving parents face as they learn to live with loss. Jackie shares four lies grieving mothers often believe - including the painful thoughts that we some...

Every child has a story that is so much bigger than the way their life ended. In this first half of my conversation with Jackie Baker, author of Messy Mourning: Hope for Mothers Grieving the Loss of a Child by Suicide , Jackie introduces us to her son Sebastian—a bright, curious, athletic, artistic young man who was deeply loved. She also shares about the struggles he faced and the journey her fam...

Josie Doll joins me again today, as we continue our conversation from last week.  Together we explore the meaning behind her book’s title - "Courage in the Corners" - a phrase her son Christian often used in hockey. For Josie, it's become a powerful picture of grief: having the courage to take the hits, get back up, and keep going.  If you missed the first half of our conversation l...

My guest on the podcast today is my friend Josie Doll, who I had the opportunity to meet when we hosted a While We're Waiting Weekend in Alberta, Canada last spring.  In this first half of our conversation, we get to know her 15-year-old son, Christian—a funny, compassionate young man and natural leader who loved hockey, golf, his friends, and his family. Josie takes us back to the summer nig...

In last week’s episode, we met Marty and Missie Durapau and heard about the loss of Missie’s 14-year-old son, Mason, after a golf cart accident on Easter Sunday in 2024. We also heard about the week they spent praying and believing God for a miracle ... and what it meant to keep trusting Him when that miracle didn’t come in the way they had hoped.  If you missed the first half of our conversation,...

My guests on the podcast today are Marty and Missie Durapau, and if I had to describe the thread that runs through their story, it would be this:  Still Trusting God. Marty had already experienced devastating loss when his wife of 34 years, Angie, died suddenly in 2020. Missie had walked through difficult seasons of her own before she came to know the Lord as an adult. They married in 2023, blendi...

Sherry Bullock’s 19-year-old daughter, Emma, was fun-loving, easygoing, and known for leaving “a trail of Emma” wherever she went. On February 6, 2021, Emma was killed in a devastating accident on a Florida interstate. In our conversation, Sherry shares honestly about the shock of sudden loss, the silence that followed, and the questions she wrestled with about heaven, God’s sovereignty, and where...

What does a "holy grief" look like twenty-four years after the death of a child? In this second half of my conversation with Angie Ford-Green, we move from the story of Kevin's death to the wisdom God has cultivated in her through the years that followed.  Building on the theme introduced in Part One of our conversation, Angie shares how God has continued to shape her understanding...

Angie's experience with grief began early in life, losing her father to a massive heart attack when she was just twelve years old.  With little guidance and few opportunities to express her grief, she learned to hide her pain and pretend she was okay when she wasn't ... a pattern that would follow her for decades.   Then, more than forty years later, her 28-year-old son, Kevin, died sudd...

Allie Andres always ended her notes and letters with the words, "Don't worry about me. I'll see you soon."  Because of her faith in Jesus, Allie knew that death was not the end of her story. She would see her loved ones again. (If you missed the first half of my conversation with Dan & Melissa, click HERE to listen!)   In this second half of our conversation, Dan and Meliss...

"Don't worry about me. I'll see you soon."  ~ Allie When sixteen-year-old Allie Andres was diagnosed with diffuse midline glioma (DMG), an aggressive and incurable pediatric brain cancer, her family was suddenly faced with every parent's worst nightmare. But instead of allowing fear to define her remaining days, Allie chose to embrace each one with extraordinary faith, con...

"Every scar says, 'Here's where I was broken, and here is where God met me.'" ~ Pat Elsberry What if the deepest wound in your life could one day become your greatest testimony of God's faithfulness? In today's episode, returning guest Pat Elsberry joins us to discuss her newest book, When Scars Become Stories: A Journey to Healing, Restoration, and Faith .  Afte...

In the second half of my conversation with author and speaker Wende Gaikema, our discussion turns to some of the most difficult and deeply personal questions parents face after the suicide of a child.  (If you haven't listened to the first half of our conversation yet, please click HERE to do that!) Drawing from her own experience following the death of her 24-year-old son, Matt, Wende contin...

The death of a child by suicide leaves parents with heartbreaking questions, overwhelming emotions, and a complicated grief journey. In this first episode of a two-part conversation, I speak with author, speaker, and leadership coach Wende Gaikema about the loss of her 24-year-old son, Matt, who died by suicide in 2018. Wende first shares Matt's story and the day that changed her family'...

Today we pick up right where we left off last week in my conversation with Heather Oden.  In the previous episode, she introduced us to her son Jacob and shared the heartbreaking story of the car accident that took his life at just 15 years old. She also gave us a glimpse into those early days of grief and the ways God met her in the middle of unimaginable pain.  (You may want to click HERE to lis...

My guest today is Heather Oden of Sterling, Kansas. Heather is a woman who wears many hats ... She's the executive director of a nonprofit called Light Up the Dark , a worship leader at her church, the wife of a fifth-generation farmer, and the mom of five children.  Today, she joins me to share the story of her son, Jacob. Jacob was an athlete, an encourager, and a young man with a remarkabl...

Is it possible to forgive someone who has taken everything from you? That's the question at the heart of the second half of my conversation with Davey Blackburn. After losing his wife, Amanda, and unborn daughter, Evie, in a tragic act of violence in 2015, Davey made national headlines when he publicly extended forgiveness to the men responsible. But as he explains in this episode, forgivenes...

On November 10, 2015, Davey Blackburn's life changed forever.  What began as an ordinary Tuesday morning ended in unimaginable tragedy when intruders entered his home, leaving his wife Amanda critically wounded. 24 hours later, Davey faced the devastating reality of losing not only Amanda, but also their unborn daughter, Evie. Suddenly, the young pastor found himself walking a road he never e...

" God just kept putting joy in front of me and encouraging me to open my heart to it." In this second half of my conversation with author Leanne Davidson, we move into some of the deeper questions grieving parents often wrestle with after child loss: Why? What if? Could I have done something differently? Will I ever feel joy again? After losing her son, Mikael, to a fentanyl overdose, Le...

“Our hearts may be tattered, but they are still useful in God’s hands.”   In this first half of my conversation with author Leanne Davidson, she shares the story of her son, Mikael — a compassionate, funny, energetic young man who loved people deeply and brought joy and laughter wherever he went. She also opens up about the difficult journey of walking alongside a child struggling with addiction a...