Season Topic: Facing Our Fears After the Death of Our Child
Pastor Lynn Breeden joins Laura for the next six episodes, talking about different fears we may have after the death of our child.
This episode begins with Lynn sharing her son Joel with the listeners. He was only five when he died, and it has been over 30 years since he left this earth. Lynn then shares what she has done to keep his memory alive within herself and those around her, including her own family and people who never met him.
As they were talking, God showed Laura a new revelation of something about our children in heaven that got them both very excited!
There was also a conversation about our other children and how important it is to find a balance in helping them remember their sibling, but not giving them the message that the child who is gone is more important or more loved than the ones who are still with us.
As the discussion came to a close, Lynn encouraged us to find a way to honor God and to honor our child with what we do as time goes on, which led to suggesting a few things that we as bereaved parents can do, to make sure our child won’t be forgotten in a way that won’t be awkward for others.
“We learn how to live our life without our child in it, but we don’t live our life without them. They are still part of us for the rest of our lives,” Lynn Breeden.
Lynn Breeden’s life was forever changed on October of 1987, 
when her son Joel Brian died of cancer at the age of five. After coming to terms with this loss, her greatest desire was to help other moms through their own loss, so they do not have to grieve alone. Lynn founded Mourning to Dancing, which is a non-denominational ministry, with the sole mission to offer comfort, hope, and encouragement to mothers who have suffered the loss of a child. She also currently serves as the Pastor for Bremen United Methodist Church in Bremen, Indiana.
Birthdays
If you would like your child mentioned on the podcast the week of his or her birthday, click here to fill out the short form with the needed information.
This week we celebrate:
Ethan Barclay-Weberpal was born on July 10 and is forever 18.
Madeline Youngdahl was born on July 16 and is forever 14.
Robert William Corbett was born on July 20 and is forever 21.
The special song I wrote for our children’s birthdays I Remember Well can be heard here. (It is the song that plays in the background of the birthday segment.)
Links referred to in this podcast episode:
To contact Pastor Lynn Breeden, click here.
Mourning to Dancing on Facebook.
Click here to see the GPS Hope Wall of Remembrance or to have you child added.
Sponsor an “In Loving Memory” heart on the Hope Mobile.
If you would like to be sent a PDF of Ten Ways to Honor Your Child, click here.
And please remember to Hold On Pain Eases; there is HOPE.
I want to partner with GPS Hope financially to help reach more grieving parents.
You are safe here. No masks needed…
Grieving Parents Sharing Hope (GPS Hope) is here to walk with parents through the darkness of child-loss, guiding them to a place of hope, light and purpose.
It is a safe place for anyone who has lost a child from this earth. There is no shame or judgement in where you are in this journey, including if you are struggling in your relationship with God or your faith has been completely shattered.
To have Laura come and speak or sing at your event, contact us at office@gpshope.org.
Everything is now bittersweet, and quite often more bitter than sweet. We want to celebrate the graduations, the weddings and the precious new births and join the family holiday festivities. And we do, in our own way. But each life event is another slap-in-the-face reminder of who isn’t there and should have been. We can’t help but feel the aching emptiness. And being in a happy place surrounded by people who are celebrating, doesn’t necessarily make us feel better like some people tell us it will, but often just compounds the grief and brings it all back.
them to hear their voice. We will never hear them laugh. We will never see their face. We won’t know what they look like two years or ten years or twenty years from now. We will never buy a birthday or Christmas gift for them. We will never hear them say, ”I love you” or be able to give them a hug. EVER… all we have now are memories of who they were…
because I know they aren’t. You see, it becomes our job to make those around us comfortable with our grief. We have to put on our masks and convince those around us that we are okay, because if we don’t, either people don’t want to be around us, or they try to fix us and tell us we should be doing better by now. So we pretend, so they don’t have to grieve with us.
rejoicing with those who rejoice, like Romans 12:15 tells us. But we aren’t very good at the second half of that verse, where we are told to weep with those who weep. (Some versions say to mourn with those who mourn or adds “sharing in their grief.”) And by the way, I notice that God doesn’t tell us to try and fix them if they are mourning for what we think might be too long of a time. He just tells us to join them in their place of sorrow.
I also look for friends who allow me to be who I am now, and not try to hang on to the person I used to be. Unfortunately, there aren’t many out there. Most of them are also bereaved parents who get it.
Up until last summer, my husband and I were blessed to have all four of our parents still here on this earth. (Dave’s dad passed last July, and my dad passed last month), so all four of them were still here on earth when Becca died.
prayed a lot, clinging to the only One who can really bring any comfort at a time like this. I am thankful for the One who can express my heart to the Father, when I don’t really even know how to pray (per Romans 8:26). 
hard on the mother of a child. It’s hard on all of us. But for me, I try to look past the death, and see where she (Becca) is today. Death is one thing all of us are going to face. Each one of us is going to die, and we know there is nothing we can do about it. It is actually part of living.
differently. I’m blessed to know that even though here, death separates us from our loved ones, up there, even death cannot separate us. I look forward to that, because I’ve got lots of ‘em up there. Knowing I am going to see them again softens the pain, but every time it leaves a mark.
2004, comforting others with the comfort she received in her time of grief. She is the mother of five children, three who dance in heaven, and two who fill her days with boyish antics on this earth. Kelly is a featured speaker at hospitals, churches, women’s groups, and a leader of educational seminars for hospital staff and caregivers. She is also a certified SGM Perinatal Loss Support Doula, building a comprehensive perinatal hospice birth and bereavement program to support bereaved families. Kelly’s book “Sufficient Grace” addresses many of the questions people ask in the face of tragedy.
