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It’s Been Two Years

 

It’s Been Two Years

Your smile was worth a thousand words
To everyone you knew.
It lit up a room wherever you went,
The love in our hearts grew and grew.

It’s been two years since I’ve seen you,
The days seem never ending.
My Savior, My Redeemer,
It’s on Him I am depending.

There were many trying times,
And hardships along the way.
But your endurance was admired
Each and every single day.

You are the apple of my eye,
The biggest hero I’ll ever meet.
I must lay down my sorrows
At the cross, at Jesus’ feet.

Losing a child, who is part of your soul, 
Will shatter it into pieces.
But each day that passes,
I know my earthly time decreases.

I will be reunited with you again
And see your body pure and whole.
Until then, I just hold on
To God, who is in complete control.

There are still so many questions
That I don’t understand, big and small.
I will remain in this waiting room,
And know God catches me when I fall.

My prayer was urgent, but God said no.
I trust Him anyway.
It’s for His glory and for my good;
I tell myself it will be okay.

Grief feels like you’ve been punched in the gut;
There is no more air to breathe.
To think your sweet precious body
Is in the ground, underneath.

But Jesus knew that day would come,
No more sorrow, no more pain.
Your body was made brand new,
No more suffering, only gain.

You’re in my thoughts every hour,
And when my heart hardens,
I must turn back to God,
Who turns graves into gardens.

Your sweet little hands, I miss,
And even though you didn’t speak a word,
I could understand your soul,
For in your eyes, it was greatly heard.

I’ll always be your mama,
As we are connected heart to heart.
The joy I have to look forward to,
Knowing one day, we will never part.

I must choose to be happy for you.
I’m jealous you’re with the One
Who sacrifices and saves,
For it is finished, it is done.

Written by Fran Rhodes for her son Charlie.

 

 

Do you have a difficult time finding things that bring you comfort? We have put together a list of thirty ways on how to bring yourself comfort and take care of yourself after the death of your child. We know God is the ultimate comforter, but it can help when we know how to give Him something to work with and to flow through. 
Let us know below if you would GPS Hope to send you this list. You will also begin to receive a Weekly Word of Hope, that is easy to unsubscribe from if you no longer want to receive it.


Expressions of Hope is provided by Grieving Parents Sharing Hope (GPS Hope). The founders, Dave and Laura Diehl, travel full time in their Hope Mobile (a 38-foot motor home) to be more easily available for speaking and ministry requests, and bringing intimate weekend retreats to bereaved parents. Laura is also a singer/songwriter and the author of multiple award-winning books.

If you would like more information about bringing Dave and Laura to you for an event, please send an email to office@gpshope.org.

If you are interested in bringing GPS Hope to your area for a weekend retreat click here.

 

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104: My Child’s Birthday, Now that They are Gone…

The day this episode is released, my daughter, Becca, would be 39 years old. Instead, she is forever 29. Three of Becca’s siblings are now older than their big sister, with one more sibling yet to hit that marker.

The birthdays of our children are painful and bittersweet. We are so thankful for the day they came into our lives, but we won’t be celebrating with them, doing things like serving them a special cake or buying gifts and a card for them. It hurts more than can be put into words that all we have now are past birthday memories, and won’t be making any new ones. (And if you had a pregnancy or infant loss, you don’t even have that… I am so sorry!)

In this episode, I talk about some of the struggles we have with our child’s birthday, along with some words of encouragement on why it is important to still celebrate the special day our child came into this world, even when those around us don’t understand why we want to acknowledge the birthday of our child who has died.

Having some sort of launch (like bio-degradable balloons, lanterns, or butterflies), eating their favorite food or watching their favorite movie are great ways to celebrate and remember our child on their birthday, but I also share a small handful of unique ideas on other special things you can do that day.

Happy Birthday, Becca-Boo! We love you and miss you like crazy!

 

Links Mentioned in this episode:

Listen to Laura’s song Together Forever.

Don’t forget to give this podcast a rating and review to help other grieving parents find us!

Send Laura your voice recording at laura@gpshope.org.

 

Click here to become a monthly partner, giving hope to other parents, or to give a special gift to keep this podcast going, along with providing  other needed resources to bereaved parents.

(GPS Hope is a 501c3 nonprofit and runs on the financial support of those who believe in passing along the hope they have received to others.)

 

Birthdays:

Becca Diehl Howard was born on April 13 and is forever 29.

Rachel Pilcher was born on April 13 and is forever 40.

Carter Braun was born on April 13 and is forever 15.

Brandon Matos was born on April 14 and is forever 23.

 

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.

The special song written for our children’s birthdays I Remember Well can be heard here.

Remember to Hold On Pain Eases; there is HOPE!

www.gpshope.org

 

To have Laura come and minister at your event, contact us at office@gpshope.org.

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 judgment in where you are in this journey, including if you are struggling in your relationship with God or your faith has been completely shattered.

 

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103: Child Loss was Not in My Plan (Part 2)

This episode is a continuation of last week’s topic. We are all very aware that in this life, we don’t always get what we planned. I’m pretty sure as a parent, it wasn’t your plan to be listening to a podcast for grieving parents, and it certainly wasn’t in my plan to host one, or to have a full-time ministry to pareavors.

Something we desperately need, to be able to move forward is hope. This includes eventually having hope that God still has a plan in place to bring blessings into our lives, even with our child no longer here on earth with us.

If you missed last week’s episode, I highly recommend you click here to listen (or find episode 102 on your app), and then come back and listen to this one, because I talk more in depth about hope and I shared three keys on how to move toward those blessings.

So if you have already heard last week’s episode, go ahead and hit play, as I share more of these keys.

 

Links Mentioned in this episode:

Listen to Part One of Child Loss was Not in My Plan

Read more of Becca’s Story.

What is a pareavor?

Join GPS Hope on a cruise! Click here for more information.

 

Don’t forget to give this podcast a rating and review to help other grieving parents find us!

Click here to become a monthly partner, giving hope to other parents, or to give a special gift to keep this podcast going, along with providing  other needed resources to bereaved parents.

(GPS Hope is a 501c3 nonprofit and runs on the financial support of those who believe in passing along the hope they have received to others.)

 

Birthdays:

Greg London was born on April 8 and is forever 34.

Michael Rhodes was born on April 11 and is forever 18.

Malish (Caspian) Aurova was born on April 11 and is forever 9 weeks.

Megan Small was born on April 11 and is forever 21.

 

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.

The special song written for our children’s birthdays I Remember Well can be heard here.

Remember to Hold On Pain Eases; there is HOPE!

www.gpshope.org

 

To have Laura come and minister at your event, contact us at office@gpshope.org.

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 judgment in where you are in this journey, including if you are struggling in your relationship with God or your faith has been completely shattered.

 

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I Don’t Believe that God is Good!

After a severe tragedy, such as the death of our child, it can be extremely difficult to reconcile the thought that God is good. If He is such a good Father, why does he allow such pain to come into our lives? Why didn’t He step in and save our children from death?

I want you to hear from another pareavor (bereaved parent) whom I know.

Dennis Apple, who was a pastor when his son died, shares in his book Life After the Death of My Son how he was disappointed and angry with God. Dennis says he was “hanging out near the back door of my faith,” and for a long time he refused to say or sing the phrase, “God is good all the time.”

I don’t care for that phrase either when it is used in a congregational setting, especially when we are supposed to respond back, “And all the time God is good.” It’s not because I don’t believe it. It’s because we each have our own definition of what that means to us. For many Christians, when they say “God is good,” it means God won’t let anything really bad happen to me in this life. So, when a tragedy happens (like our house burning down to the ground, or the death of our child), we decide He isn’t really good, because a good God wouldn’t do this to me.

How did Dennis get past that? Dennis states as he came to a crossroads, he asked himself a couple of questions: Do I believe there’s a sovereign God who knows and sees all, including my suffering over the loss of our son? Am I going to trust in this sovereign God whom I don’t always understand? After wrestling with these questions for a long time, he was able to say through painful tears, “Yes, I believe in Him, and yes I will trust Him.”

His wife, Beulah, also made a conscious decision after several years of deep grief. Did she want to remain in this same dark place she had been in for almost five years, or did she want to come out of it and make the best of her life and her family that was still here? She chose to “lay aside the garment of grief and mourning, sweep up the ashes that surrounded her, and go on.” It was a turning point for both her and their marriage.

Times of suffering are when the devil really attacks our thoughts. “If God really loved you, you wouldn’t be going through this.” “If God was really good, He wouldn’t have let this happen.” The truth is, both believers in Christ and nonbelievers can face extreme hardships. Being a Christian does not mean that we won the lottery to a trouble-free life here on this earth. That would not be love, that would be bribery on God’s part.

The difference is that those of us who have made Jesus Lord of our lives have someone to give us peace in the storms. We have someone who will walk with us, giving us comfort and direction. We have someone who is working on our behalf to make sure we are not destroyed by the tragedies, but are delivered through them. We have someone who is working that devastating loss into something that can bear good eternal fruit. We have someone who can bring joy back into our lives again, even when we think it’s impossible.

We have someone who cares so deeply that He allowed His Son to be brutally beaten and endure a torturous death, so that we could be reunited with our children forever. The act itself of Jesus being beaten and hung on a cross was not good, but the eternal fruit of Jesus entering hell to snatch the keys of hell and death, and His resurrection certainly was good!

It is very common to struggle with one’s faith after the death of their child. It may be for just one day or it may be for several years. In the midst of our pain and darkness, we all have to reevaluate who we thought God was, which can open the door to find out who He really is, while discovering a much deeper meaning to the phrase God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.

So, the question remains: Is God good all the time? The enemy who is trying to get you to turn your back on God (the same enemy who brought death, pain and darkness into this world) wants to you to think no, He is not good. That is why Satan is the enemy. He has plans and tactics to turn you away from God and His love for you and your child, and he knows the death of your child makes you a much easier target to be able to do that.

But the fact is, God defeated this same enemy in the eternal realm so that we can defeat Him, too. And because of that, hopefully you do not want to be deceived by the enemy and come into agreement with him and his lies.

So, yes, God is good. We may not understand the “why” this side of eternity, but we can trust in the eternal goodness of God. Say it out loud, and say it with conviction, to get the enemy to start backing down. “God is good!”

 

The very first book I wrote is called Triple Crown Transformation. “See the crown” is about seeing God’s vision for our lives. “Wear the crown” is about who He is in our lives, and “be the crown” is learning more about our eternal identity.

Let us know below if you would like to receive a free eBook copy.

Expressions of Hope is provided by Grieving Parents Sharing Hope (GPS Hope). The founders, Dave and Laura Diehl, travel full time in their Hope Mobile (a 38-foot motor home) to be more easily available for speaking and ministry requests, and bringing intimate weekend retreats to bereaved parents. Laura is also a singer/songwriter and the author of multiple award-winning books.

If you would like more information about bringing Dave and Laura to you for an event, please send an email to office@gpshope.org.

If you are interested in bringing GPS Hope to your area for a weekend retreat click here.

 

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102: Child Loss was Not in My Plan

We just got done having our GPS Hope and Healing retreat in Texas and it was wonderful! (See the link below if you want to find out more about our retreats.) Today and next week’s episodes are one of the sessions from this past retreat.

None of us ever planned to be listening to a podcast for parents who have faced the death of their child! But we know that sometimes things that happen in our lives here on earth are not what we planned.

If you are like me, I had no idea this kind of suffocating darkness even existed. So, if this wasn’t in our plans, it makes sense that we struggle for a very long time trying to navigate our way through it, looking for some sort of light and hope to be able to do more than just barely survive the rest of our time here.

Changing our perspective in certain areas is important to get us through the darkness and back to a place of light and learning how to live in a world without our child. In this episode I share three keys to help with this, and next week I will share a few more.

 

Links Mentioned in this episode:

GPS Hope & Healing Retreats

Book: When Tragedy Strikes

Get a copy of the Forgiveness Prayers 

I Am Afraid My Child Might Not Be in Heaven podcast episode

Join GPS Hope on a cruise! Click here for more information.

 

Don’t forget to give this podcast a rating and review to help other grieving parents find us!

Click here to become a monthly partner, giving hope to other parents, or to give a special gift to keep this podcast going, along with providing  other needed resources to bereaved parents.

(GPS Hope is a 501c3 nonprofit and runs on the financial support of those who believe in passing along the hope they have received to others.)

 

Birthdays:

Tommy Simmons was born on March 29 and is forever 59.

Jonda Steinkamp was born on April 2 and is forever 5 months.

William Judah was born on April 3 and is forever 40.

 

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.

The special song written for our children’s birthdays I Remember Well can be heard here.

Remember to Hold On Pain Eases; there is HOPE!

www.gpshope.org

 

To have Laura come and minister at your event, contact us at office@gpshope.org.

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 judgment in where you are in this journey, including if you are struggling in your relationship with God or your faith has been completely shattered.

 

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