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You are here: Home / Episode / 324: Life After Losing a Child: How One Dad Found Meaning, Purpose, and God Again (with Tracy Brinkmann)

November 25, 2025 by Laura Diehl Leave a Comment

324: Life After Losing a Child: How One Dad Found Meaning, Purpose, and God Again (with Tracy Brinkmann)

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Guest Interviews
Guest Interviews
324: Life After Losing a Child: How One Dad Found Meaning, Purpose, and God Again (with Tracy Brinkmann)
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Download filePlay in new windowDuration: 57:34Recorded on November 25, 2025

Today’s guest has lived life after losing a child for nearly thirty years, which means he brings decades of hard-won wisdom and the honesty of someone who still remembers the darkness well. Like most pareavors, Tracy Brinkmann never imagined he could climb out of that crushing place of grief. But his story is a powerful example of how one dad found meaning, purpose, and God again after the unthinkable happened.

In our conversation, Tracy shares openly about the deep anger he carried toward God after his 18-month-old daughter, Krysta, died in his arms. We talk about what it looks like to move through that anger instead of living in it, the surprising ways his prayers and relationship with God were reshaped, and the conscious decision he made to rebuild a life that mattered again.

This episode is a heartfelt look at the real journey of life after losing a child; a journey full of questions, rebuilding, unexpected grace, and the slow return of purpose. Tracy’s honesty shows that even when faith feels shattered, God has a way of meeting us in the dark and gently leading us forward.

Close-up portrait of Tracy Brinkmann, a middle-aged man with long graying brown hair, a gray beard, and light eyes, wearing a patterned jacket over a white shirt, smiling slightly against a dark wooden background. Tracy shares his journey of Life After Losing a Child.Tracy Brinkmann is a father of four, a former military man, and the voice behind The Dark Horse Entrepreneur – AI Escape Plan and Your Success DNA, two shows drawing more than 300,000 monthly downloads. His life reads like a redemption story—addiction, the devastating loss of his daughter, divorce, bankruptcy—yet Tracy rose from it all to lead corporate marketing teams and build a thriving digital brand.

Today, he helps parents and small business owners compress time and multiply income through AI, podcasting, and automation. His reactivation campaigns have produced a month’s worth of revenue in under seven days. Tracy speaks with compassion, clarity, and conviction—living proof that no setback is final, and no dream is too late.

(Note: The views and opinions of our guests outside of this podcast may not be in agreement with GPS Hope.) 

Links Mentioned in this episode:

Connect with Tracy Brinkmann: Website | Podcast

Join the community who are making sure this podcast continues, giving hope to others the way you have received hope. Choose your level here on Patreon.

Find out more and get your copy of Hope for the Future: An Advent Journey for Bereaved Parents here.

Share with Laura and others a way you brightened your own day a bit by brightening someone else’s here on the GPS Hope website under the show notes. (Or on the public or private GPS Hope page under the podcast episode.)

Subscribe to the GPS Hope YouTube channel to join Laura during advent.

Birthdays:

We lovingly remember and celebrate the lives of:

Elizabeth Pasqualone was born on November 14 and is forever 28.

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

Brendan Weidner was born on November 28 and is forever 14.

Liam “Trip” Nugent was born on November 29 and is forever 21.

Raelyne Ten Bruggencate was born on November 29 and is forever 1.

Visit gpshope.org/birthdays to submit your child’s name and date so we can honor them, too.

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!

The GPS Hope logo featuring a sunrise rising over soft clouds and a teardrop-shaped emblem, symbolizing faith-based support and healing. It represents national grieving parent support after child loss, emphasizing community and hope through gpshope.org

www.gpshope.org

The GPS Hope Mobile parked and ready for outreach—a 420-square-foot motorhome used as a national grief support ministry for grieving parents. This image marks the one-year anniversary of GPS Hope becoming fully mobile, offering hope, comfort, and faith-based resources to pareavors across the country after child loss. Image includes gpshope.org, representing a journey of healing and support on wheels.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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Filed Under: Guest Interviews 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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FREE DOWNLOAD

Rebuilding Your Life: A Gentle Guide Toward Hope and Healing After Child Loss

Download our FREE GUIDE, Rebuilding Your Life: A Gentle Guide Toward Hope and Healing After Child Loss. Discover how to find light in the darkness, reclaim peace in your broken heart, and start moving toward a life of meaning and purpose again.

 

IN THIS FREE GUIDE, I’LL SHOW YOU:

💛 GRACE FOR YOURSELF
How to release the pressure of grieving “the right way” and be gentle with yourself.

🕊️ LETTING GO OF GUILT
Steps to begin loosening the heavy “should haves” and “if onlys” that keep you stuck.

🌿 HEALING CONNECTIONS
Ways to engage with other grieving parents (pareavors) so you don’t feel so alone.

🌸 HONORING YOUR CHILD
Meaningful ways to carry your child’s memory forward with love and hope.

✨ FAITH & HOPE
Practical encouragement for walking with God through grief and discovering His healing touch.

and the exact 8 steps that have helped thousands of grieving parents move toward light, hope, and purpose after child loss.