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You are here: Home / Expressions of Hope / Pain, Peace, and Prayer: Rachel’s Story of Loss and Hope

September 5, 2025 by Laura Diehl Leave a Comment

Pain, Peace, and Prayer: Rachel’s Story of Loss and Hope

A serene forest path with sunlight filtering through the trees, symbolizing peace and healing after grief. Overlaid title text reads, “Pain, Peace, and Prayer: Rachel's Story of Loss and Hope.” This image represents hope, prayer, and encouragement for grieving parents after child loss. GPS Hope – Grieving Parents Sharing HOPE.

A warm close-up photo of a parent gently holding a small child’s hand, symbolizing love and connection. Overlaid text reads: “Healing doesn’t mean forgetting. Healing doesn’t erase our child from our hearts. Our grief is really just love with no place to go.” The website “gpshope.org” appears at the bottom. This image offers encouragement for grieving parents, affirming that healing and love remain after child loss. GPS Hope – Grieving Parents Sharing HOPE.I recently had the blessing of talking with a pareavor on the Grieving Parents Sharing Hope podcast, who is a strong encourager of prayer, even after the death of her daughter.  I know praying can be extremely difficult for many of us now, wondering why we should bother praying, if God is just going to do what He wants to do anyway.

After experiencing profound loss through miscarriage and then saying goodbye to her beloved daughter, Taylor, who lived for 22 years with a rare metabolic disorder, Rachel “Wojo” Wojnarowski found prayer to be her lifeline in life’s darkest valleys.

Taylor was a bubbly little girl, full of laughter and life. At age three, Rachel began to notice that she was losing skills she once had, starting with something as simple as putting on her socks. Eventually, Taylor was diagnosed with a rare, terminal disorder that causes one’s mind to forget how to function. Over time, Taylor gradually lost literally every ability, including speech, movement, communication and swallowing, and passed away at home in January, 2019.

Finding God in Grief

A tranquil photo of a mother and child sitting on a dock by a peaceful lake at sunset, with a rainbow-like beam of light refracting through a cloud. White text overlays the image: “It is not the pain that keeps me attached to my child, but it is my love for them.” The bottom of the image shows the website gpshope.org. This image offers comfort and encouragement for grieving parents, emphasizing that love—not pain—connects them to their child. GPS Hope – Grieving Parents Sharing Hope.Rachel shared how those final days were filled with both deep anger and incredible intimacy with God. In her grief, she cried out, “God, you don’t know what it’s like to watch your child suffer and die.” Immediately, she felt His gentle reply: “Yes, I do. I watched my Son suffer and die for you.” That moment transformed John 3:16 from a familiar verse into a life-altering reality. God’s love was not distant. He was holding Taylor in heaven and Rachel on earth at the same time.

One of the most powerful truths Rachel has learned, through her prayers and talks with God, is that healing doesn’t mean forgetting. Healing doesn’t erase our child from our hearts. In fact, grief is really just love with no place to go.

Love That Remains

A photo of a person standing on top of a large rock formation with arms outstretched toward a dramatic, cloudy sunset sky. The image is overlaid with the quote: “Pain cannot grip you tighter than God’s grace.” At the bottom, the website gpshope.org is displayed. This image symbolizes hope, strength, and God’s sustaining grace for grieving parents facing child loss. GPS Hope – Grieving Parents Sharing Hope.For most of us, it takes a while to realize that it is not the pain that keeps us attached to our children, but it is our love for them. This love not only remains, but for many of us, it continues to grow stronger and sharing that love with others becomes part of the healing journey.

Rachel also shared with us how God spoke to her through Isaiah 58, where He shows that healing comes quickly when we pour ourselves into helping others.

Healing isn’t about waiting until we have it all together. It’s about choosing, in small ways, to love, to serve, to give, even doing something as simple as offering a quarter to a little girl who really wanted it for a gumball machine when her parents didn’t have a quarter on them.

Hope Worth Holding

A serene photo of a bridge at sunset stretching over calm water, with radiant sunbeams breaking through the clouds. The image is overlaid with the comforting quote: “God is big enough to hold my child in heaven and me here on earth at the very same time.” At the bottom, the website gpshope.org appears. This image conveys faith, comfort, and the eternal connection between grieving parents and their children in heaven. GPS Hope – Grieving Parents Sharing Hope.Rachel’s encouragement is simple but life-giving: even if you don’t feel God, He is with you. Pain cannot grip you tighter than His grace. And joy and sorrow can co-exist in our lives when we let His Spirit breathe peace into our pain.

As Rachel says, “God is big enough to hold my daughter in heaven and me here on earth at the very same time.” And that truth, dear friend, is hope worth holding on to.


NOTE: This was partially taken from the Grieving Parents Sharing Hope podcast episode 312. Click here to listen to the full discussion, or look for the Grieving Parents Sharing Hope podcast on your favorite listening app.

Check out Rachel Wojo’s book, Desperate Prayers: Embracing the Power of Prayer in Life’s Darkest Moments.

Note: this is an affiliate link, which means a small purchase price of this book will be donated to the ministry of Grieving Parents Sharing Hope (GPS Hope).

If you would like to join thousands of other bereaved parents receiving a weekly word of hope delivered to your inbox, let us know below.


Four award-winning grief support books by Laura Diehl for bereaved parents. Top-left: When Tragedy Strikes, black cover, subtitle “Rebuilding Your Life with Hope and Healing After the Death of Your Child,” with an Illumination Book Awards sticker. Top-right: Reflections of HOPE, ocean and sun cover, subtitle “Daily Readings for Bereaved Parents,” next to a wooden Illumination Book Award plaque (2024). Bottom-left: Hope for the Future, white cover with three lit candles, subtitle “An Advent Journey for Bereaved Parents,” with three gold Illumination Book Awards stickers. Bottom-right: My Grief Journey coloring book and journal, colorful intricate designs, with a Christian Book Award Winner sticker. GPS Hope – Grieving Parents Sharing HOPE.

AWARD WINNING AUTHOR, LAURA DIEHL, has written several impactful books that provide comfort and guidance to those navigating the painful journey of child loss, after the death of her own daughter in 2011. Her most acclaimed work, When Tragedy Strikes: Rebuilding Your Life with Hope and Healing After the Death of Your Child, has received multiple accolades, including the 2017 Gold Medal Centauri Christian Book Award for Non-Fiction and a Silver Medal in the 2018 Illumination Awards. Several of her other books have won awards as well.

Podcast cover for “Grieving Parents Sharing Hope” with Laura Diehl, offering faith-based encouragement for grieving parents after child loss. Background shows a dramatic sunset over the ocean with a lighthouse on the right, symbolizing hope in darkness. Laura Diehl’s headshot is in the bottom left corner. A gold seal in the center reads “Winner, AmericanWritingAwards.com, Podcast of the Year 2025,” with a smaller version of the seal in the bottom right corner. GPS Hope – Grieving Parents Sharing HOPE.In addition to her writing, Laura is an ordained minister and has an extensive background in international children’s ministry. She is a sought-after speaker and singer at grief conferences and churches, known for her compassionate approach and deep understanding of the grieving process, especially the unique loss of a child. Through her weekly award-winning podcast, her writings, and other resources provided by GPS Hope, Laura and her husband, Dave, continue to provide hope and healing to thousands of parents worldwide, helping them find light in the midst of profound loss and darkness.

For more information about Laura’s award-winning books go to gpshope.org/books.
To find out more about Laura Diehl and the ministry of Grieving Parents Sharing Hope (GPS Hope) visit gpshope.org.

The link to Hope for the Future is an affiliate link, allowing part of the purchase price to go to GPS Hope. 

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Filed Under: Expressions of Hope Tagged With: bereaved parents, bereaved parents awareness month, bereaved parents day, dreaming of your child's death, grief, grief and loss, grief anxiety, grieving parents, how to cope with the death of a child, how to deal with grief and loss of a loved one, how to deal with losing a son, how to handle grief at work and beyond, Laura Diehl, losing a daughter quotes, losing a daughter to death, loss of child, pareavor, prayer for bereaved parents, what to say on anniversary of child's death​

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