GPS Hope

by Leave a Comment

84: Looking Toward My Future After Child Loss

This is the final episode in a 3-part series called Rebuilding Your Life After Child Loss.

First, we hear from two bereaved parents (Sara Nelson and Melanie Delorme) about their journey coming out of the darkness and back to a place of living a life of meaning and purpose again.

Then I share how I have seen and experienced how God lovingly wants to help each of us to move in that same direction.

 

Links Mentioned in this episode:

Click the link below to go to:

Rebuilding Your Life After  Child Loss courses

  • Course One – How Do I Even Start to Rebuild My Life?
  • Course Two – Working Through the Darkness
  • Course Three – Looking Toward My Future

GPS Hope website: gpshope.org

 

Please remember to give this podcast a rating and review to help other parents who are looking for something that will encourage them.

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:

Josie Floyd was born on November 24 and is forever 25.

Jessika Matejcik was born on November 25 and is forever 21.

Austin Delgado was born on November 26 and is forever 21.

Tyler Green was born on November 26 and is forever 27.

 

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.

 

by Leave a Comment

83: Working Through the Darkness of Child Loss

When our child dies, we find ourselves in a place of darkness we didn’t even know existed.

There are often many struggles within that place of darkness. Today we will touch on three of these:

  • Prayer
  • Those around us who don’t understand and aren’t supporting us
  • How our thoughts can keep us in our place of darkness

I want to encourage you that it won’t always be this dark. Those of us who are on this journey ahead of you thought we would never come out, but we did, at some point. Grieving Parents Sharing Hope (GPS Hope) is here, is to walk with you through that darkness, to help guide you back into a place of light, hope and even a life of meaning and purpose again. Our prayer is that we can help you get there quicker than you would be able to get there by yourself.

Links Mentioned in this episode:

Click the link below to go to:

Rebuilding Your Life After  Child Loss courses

  • Course One – How Do I Even Start to Rebuild My Life?
  • Course Two – Working Through the Darkness
  • Course Three – Looking Toward My Future

GPS Hope website: gpshope.org

 

Please remember to give this podcast a rating and review to help other parents who are looking for something that will encourage them.

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:

Lara Ann was born on November 17 and is forever 15 ½.

Austin Lotterman was born on November 20 and is forever 8 ½.

Jacinda Avina was born on November 22 and is forever 18.

Jacob LeTourneau was born on November 22 and is forever 21.

Melissa Sulikowski Hill was born on November 23 and is forever 38.

Skylar Spencer was born on November 23 and is forever 24.

 

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.

 

by Leave a Comment

82: Our Mental Breakdown After Child Loss

In this podcast episode, I talk about the mental breakdown that we struggle with after the death of our child.

If you are like me, the mental break downs are so very frustrating; the confusion, the fogginess, not being able to concentrate, and major forgetfulness (as in forgetting how to do a simple task you have done most of your life)!

It really scared me as I started wondering if I was having an onset of early Alzheimer’s. It took me quite a while to find out that was a normal part of intense grief.

What was happening with me physically and mentally during the worst of my grieving period those first couple of years seemed so much greater than my strength to get through it. But I did, and so can you.

This was a session taken from Course One: How Do I Even Start to Rebuild My Life? from the Rebuilding Your Life After the Death of Your Child courses. Next week will be a session from Course Two: Working Through the Darkness.

 

This episode was sponsored by Jeff and Stacie Snider, in loving memory of their son, Brenton Kristoffer Smith, on the anniversary of his sunset date, November 10, 2015. Thank you, Jeff and Stacie for your support of this podcast. You have our hearts and our prayers.

 

Links Mentioned in this episode:

Click the link below to go to:

Rebuilding Your Life After Child Loss courses

  • Course One – How Do I Even Start to Rebuild My Life?
  • Course Two – Working Through the Darkness
  • Course Three – Looking Toward My Future

GPS Hope website: gpshope.org

 

Please remember to give this podcast a rating and review to help other parents who are looking for something that will encourage them.

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:

Beau-Dean Gordon was born on November 10 and is forever 23.

David Shelton was born on November 11 and is forever 23.

Austin Augustine was born on November 14 and is forever 16.

Casen Sancraint was born on November 14 and is forever 10.

 

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.

 

by 2 Comments

81: Seven Shifts in How You See God

When our child dies, we start out in such a place of darkness and eventually have moments we see light or hope, and then fall back into that darkness. Along with that, many of us have a hard time seeing or finding God in all of the pain and confusion.

No one has all the answers to our questions of “Why?”. So instead of being stuck there, it can be helpful to change some of our perspectives, which is what I talk about in this episode.

Seeing things through God’s eyes is always better than through our own. We need to ask Him for His eyes, and then give Him time to show us.

I don’t expect you to connect with all seven of them, but my prayer is that one or two of these thoughts will help you move toward having more hope and light in your life on your way to learning how to live a life of meaning and purpose once again.

This is not in spite of your child’s death, but because of his or her life!

Links Mentioned in this episode:

Click the link below to go to:

Rebuilding Your Life After the Death of Your Child courses

  • Course One – How Do I Even Start to Rebuild My Life?
  • Course Two – Working Through the Darkness
  • Course Three – Looking Toward My Future

GPS Hope website: gpshope.org

 

Please remember to give this podcast a rating and review to help other parents who are looking for something that will encourage them.

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:

It is a bit unusual, but there are none to announce this week!

 

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.

by Leave a Comment

What I Learned in Hindsight that Might Help You

~ by BJ Jensen

Hindsight is a good teacher.  If I had to relive those first special dates over again since Jay died in 1995 (I pray I will not ever have to), I would approach them differently, utilizing some of the following bits of wisdom gleaned over time:

I would not expect everyone to remember Jay’s birth date or death date like I do.

I see now how I set myself up for feeling more disappointment or failure.  Those dates cannot possible mean as much to other people as they do to his own mother.  It is not fair on my part to expect that.

I would voice my thoughts or concerns that jay’s birthday or “birth into heaven” date was coming up and that I was feeling fragile or sad or lonely.

It has not been fair of me to want people to “read my mind” and guess why I’m blue.  Personally, I don’t know any mind readers, and don’t think I will ever know any.  It would have been more appropriate for me to tell those I wanted to share my heart with.  I would have saved me more grief when they didn’t remember.

I would have planned special things for those special days instead of thinking that I should sit at home by myself and cry.

A walk on Jay’s favorite beach at sunset with a friend, or a picnic at Jay’s favorite park with some of his friends would have helped me remember some of the good times instead of focusing on the bad.

I would have done something nice for someone who was feeling lonely or sad or didn’t have a friend – a trip out to lunch or to a movie.

I would have focused more on the good memories instead of the hurtful ones. 

When I focused on what I didn’t have, it produced unhappiness and discontent.  When I focused on what I did have, it produced gratitude.

I would have realized it was okay for me to cry and it was okay to desire to have Jay back, even though it held me captive in selfishness. 

It was okay – but only for a time.  I then had to make a truly hard decision to focus on helping others less fortunate.  The more time I spent focused inwardly on myself and the loss of our son, the more I seemed to spiral downward into the pit of self-pity and despair.  I had already spent too much time there and hated the darkness.  I now know I would have helped myself recover sooner and with less stress if I had spent more time focused outwardly.

I would have joined a support group sooner.

I would not have isolated myself from the very ones who wanted to help me.  My family of origin had taught me to segregate myself from others when I was sad.  However, I now believe we are made for community and for helping each other through the tough times.

We try to honor our son’s life by doing the best we can with the rest of our lives. We sometimes ask ourselves the question, “Would our choices and decisions in our lives today make Jay proud of us?”

We treasure memories of Jay and allow ourselves to reminisce, get nostalgic, and be thankful for the time we had with him, even though it wasn’t long enough. Whatever time we had with our departed child would never have been long enough.

Surviving special dates the first few years after the death of your child may seem like an impossible task. In some ways it’s like climbing a steep mountain or navigating on a churning ocean. But it can be done. So many others have had to climb that mountain or traverse those treacherous waters and are stronger for having made it to the far shore. We want to encourage you and give you hope that it can be done. That small tender shoot of hope will grow when nurtured and fertilized.

 

This was taken by permission from the book Finding Hope After the Devastating Loss of Beloved Children by Dr. Doug and BJ Jensen. Click here to find it on Amazon. (This is an affiliate link. GPS Hope will get a small percentage of your purchase by using it.)

 

Doug and BJ Jensen, are International Speakers, award-winning Dramatists, Signing Artists, Song Writers, Drama Writers, and Authors of 16 books. Dr. Jensen earned his PhD in Biblical Studies in the area of Biblical Counseling.  BJ is the Director of the world traveling LOVE IN MOTION Signing Choir and is a writer of 8 stories found in seven of the CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL books. You can contact them at Jensen2@san.rr.com or on their Facebook page: Bj Jensen San Diego.

We would like to send you a PDF of Thirty Ways to Bring Ourselves Comfort and Take Care of Ourselves. Please let us know below where to send it. (You will also join over 1000 other parents who receive a Weekly Word of Hope.)

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.

 

 

Recent Posts




LIKE US ON FACEBOOK

GPS Hope Page (for bereaved parents)

Events & Itinerary

BROWSEOUR STORE

guidestar