Grief Pathway
Grief can come in many forms. The loss of a loved one. The loss of a marriage. The loss of a dream. And while in some ways, we may never be fully healed from our pain on this side of heaven, we can learn how to carry our sorrow forward. No matter what brought grief into your life, there is hope and healing to be found right where you are. In this Grief Pathway, you’ll hear stories from people from all walks of life who encountered grief in some way and yet found a way through. If grief is a part of your story or you know someone who is grieving, let this pathway offer hope where it seems to have disappeared.
Podcast Episodes:
Why does it sometimes feel like different parts of us are pulling in opposite directions? How do we begin to notice, understand, and care for the parts of ourselves that are trying to cope with pain, loss, and grief?
For psychologist and author Dr. Audrey Davidheiser, understanding Internal Family Systems (IFS) has transformed both her personal and professional journey. Through her own experiences—including the loss of her father—and years of helping others navigate grief, she has seen how IFS offers a compassionate framework for understanding the many parts that make up our inner world. Rather than viewing these parts as problems to be fixed, IFS invites us to approach them with curiosity, compassion, and care, recognizing that each part is often trying to protect us or help us survive difficult experiences. In her book, Grieving Wholeheartedly: Bringing Healing to Every Part of Your Soul, Dr. Davidheiser explores how the principles of IFS can be applied to the grieving process through a thoughtful Christian lens, offering practical tools for healing and growth.
In this conversation, Davey and Dr. Davidheiser discuss what Internal Family Systems is, how different parts can emerge in response to grief and hardship, and how understanding these parts can help us move toward deeper healing and wholeness.
If you've ever felt torn between conflicting emotions, wondered why one part of you wants to move forward while another wants to hold back, or struggled to make sense of your reactions in seasons of loss, this episode will encourage you to approach yourself with greater compassion. You'll discover that every part of you has a story to tell, and that through the healing presence of Jesus, those parts can be understood, cared for, and brought toward greater wholeness.
How can we begin to untangle the thoughts and emotions that are keeping us stuck or pushing us toward unhealthy forms of coping? What does it look like to embrace the God-given agency we have over our minds?
Dr. Lee Warren is a practicing neurosurgeon who has experienced the depths of grief and loss after losing his son, Mitch, years ago. Through his own journey of pain and healing—as well as his deep understanding of the brain as a neurosurgeon—he began to connect the truth of what Scripture says about our minds and thoughts with the science of the brain. Dr. Warren believes each of us has the ability to do “brain surgery” on ourselves in order to experience deeper healing from loss, trauma, and the wounds we encounter throughout life.
In his book, The Life-Changing Art of Self-Brain Surgery: Connecting Neuroscience and Faith to Radically Transform Your Life, Dr. Warren helps readers understand the power they have in their healing journey while offering practical wisdom for growing through difficulty into resilience.
In this conversation, Davey and Dr. Warren discuss the difference between the brain and the mind, the incredible power our thoughts have in the healing process, and why God gave us emotions in the first place.
If you are feeling stuck and find yourself turning to unhealthy habits or patterns in the midst of pain, this episode will encourage you with the hope that God can radically transform your life as you learn the life-changing art of self-brain surgery.
How do we make space for our grief in the midst of what is often called a joyful season? What happens when the traditions we once cherished become painful reminders of those no longer at our table?
Author Lanier Ivester understands the deep ache of loss and how it reshapes the holidays. After walking through multiple griefs—many within a single year—Lanier found herself reimagining the Christmas season traditions she once loved. Through that process, she discovered how to honor her grief while allowing traditions to evolve in ways that nurture connection and relationship.
In her book, Glad and Golden Hours: A Companion for Advent and Christmastide, Lanier shares cherished practices—many of which were passed down from her mother and explores the rich theology of the Christmas season—a theology that embraces both joy and sorrow in sacred tension.
In this episode, Davey sits down with Lanier to discuss how grief transforms our experience of the holidays, the invitation Advent offers to bring both our celebration and lament before God, and how to thoughtfully engage—or release—traditions after loss.
If you or someone you love is hurting this Christmas, this conversation offers a gentle reminder: this season is spacious enough to hold your pain and still whisper the hope of Christ—Emmanuel, God with us.
What do you do when you find yourself living a life you don’t always love? How can joy be rediscovered after seasons of sorrow and heartache?
For author, podcaster, and military wife Rachel Awtrey, learning to love her life hasn’t been an easy journey. After losing her father at a young age, walking through a messy season of grief, and navigating the uncertainty that comes with being married to a military member, Rachel has experienced her share of challenges. Yet through it all, she’s discovered how to find joy in the messy, mundane moments of everyday life.
In her latest book, Love Your Life (Even If You Don’t Like It All the Time), Rachel offers a refreshing and honest perspective on what it truly means to live a joyful life. She shares simple, practical ways to face daily frustrations and uncover meaning even in the hardest seasons.
In this episode, Davey and Rachel discuss the importance of giving yourself time and space to grieve after a loss, how our natural tendencies can become magnified in times of pain, and practical encouragement for military families—and those who love them—facing the unique challenges of that lifestyle.
If you’ve ever struggled to love your actual, everyday life, this conversation will remind you that joy can be found right where you are, no matter your circumstances.
How do you find hope when life unexpectedly thrusts you into the valley of loss? How do you navigate the rugged terrain of pain?
For Nothing is Wasted’s Podcast Producer and Content Director, Catherine Fitzgerald, the heartbreak and trauma of losing her brother, Zac, plunged her into a valley unlike anything she had ever experienced. In the aftermath came secondary losses of community and identity and a spiritual desolation that felt like a dark night of the soul. She found herself wondering how she would ever find her way back to faith.
And yet, God met her there—through the book of Psalms and through the stories of others, like Davey Blackburn—offering a glimmer of light to guide her toward hope.
Now, in Nothing is Wasted’s latest project, Catherine has gathered and edited a collection of stories from past podcast guests, Nothing is Wasted Coaches, and team members. Each story weaves together personal journeys through pain, loss, and trauma with reflections on the Psalms, forming a powerful new devotional—Hope in the Valley: 42 Days of Healing Through the Psalms After Loss, Grief, and Tragedy.
In this episode, Davey and Catherine look back on their own stories and their shared journey through Nothing is Wasted. Together, they explore how loss reshapes every part of our lives, the often messy wrestle for hope, and why stories are such a vital part of nurturing faith in the valley of pain.
If you’ve ever believed that hope simply means “looking on the bright side,” this conversation will remind you that true hope is far more complex—gritty, raw, and worth fighting for. And often, it’s the stories of others that become our most powerful weapon in that fight.
What do we do when pain and trauma affect our children? How can we guide them through the complex journey of grief and loss?
Erin Nelson has walked through depths of sorrow that few can imagine. She lost her first husband in a sudden plane crash, her mother to suicide, and her young adult son in a tragic car accident. Having experienced grief in its rawest forms, Erin found healing—and through it, a calling. She channeled her pain into purpose by founding Jessica's House, a grief support center for children, teens, and their families.
As Jessica's House has grown, Erin has partnered with others who share her heart, including Colleen Montague, a licensed therapist and the center’s program director. Together, they co-authored When Grief Comes Home: A Gentle Guide for Living Through Loss While Supporting Your Child, a compassionate resource designed to help families facing the unimaginable.
In this deeply meaningful conversation, Davey sits down with Erin and Colleen to explore how our most painful experiences can become the foundation for our life’s purpose, how to recognize what grief looks like in children, and how to have honest conversations with kids about loss.
If you or someone you love is trying to help a child navigate grief, this episode offers practical tools and guidance for supporting young hearts through profound hurt.
What do you do when you are faced with an unbearable decision? How do you walk firmly in faith when you know the outcome will most likely be devastation?
For former local news anchor and author, Brooke Martin, and her husband, the choice to carry their daughter, Emma Noelle, to term even though she was diagnosed with a condition that meant she would not survive outside the womb, was one of trust. Although they knew pain was on the other side of their second pregnancy, they also knew that God could be glorified as they walked out their faith. While she only got a few short minutes with her daughter alive after her birth, Brooke has seen the ways in which God has used the pain and suffering to bring glory to Himself. With the vision of how life's fires can completely destroy or bring about unimaginable fruit, Brooke wrote the book Controlled Burn: Rising from the Ashes to Forge an Unshakable Faith and shared how her own story of pain brought about so much spiritual growth.
In this moving conversation, Davey and Brooke discuss how we can step out in faith in decisions that feel impossible either way, why praying for God to be glorified is such a powerful request, and what grief looks like as time moves forward.
If you've ever felt like an unexpected fire has rolled into your life, this episode will give you the courage to let it burn away what needs to be and watch as new life springs forth from the ashes when you lean on your faith in whatever suffering you are facing.
What do we do when people fail us in our greatest time of need? How can the church do a better job at entering into people's pain and walking with them in their stories?
Dr. Michelle Keener walked through her own season of suffering and eventually found herself deep diving into Biblical research on the book of Job in the Bible through the lens of trauma. It was through her scholarly research that she was able to find principles that applied to her own pain and to the Church at large when it comes to helping trauma survivors. In her book Comfort in the Ashes: Explorations in the Book of Job to Support Trauma Survivors, she connects the story of Job-a man who knew incredible trauma and pain-to practical ways individuals and the church can show up in suffering.
In this insightful episode, Aubrey sits with Dr. Keener to discuss how we can connect our own personal experiences of trauma to those in scripture, why the church struggles to help those who are hurting, and how the gospel applies to pain.
If you've ever needed people to meet you in your pain and didn't find the support available or if you've ever struggled to know how to step into the pain of someone else, this conversation is a gentle reminder of how we can steward each other's stories well as we move through grief and trauma in life and how God is always there to comfort us in the ashes.
Theologian Dallas Willard was once asked how he would describe Jesus in just 1 word. He replied with the word: relaxed. How can we learn to walk and live like Jesus in a world that wants us to go as fast as we can? What does it look like to deeply trust and surrender when we are walking through pain?
For author and pastor Megan Fate Marshman, those were hard questions to answer after losing her husband, Randy, suddenly to a heart attack. Learning to relax into Christ through the grief and loss was a challenge, but in it she learned to move at a Kingdom pace. She wrote her latest book, “Relaxed: Walking with the One Who Is Not Worried about a Thing”, as a way to help readers let go of spiritual performance and find freedom to walk towards God at a gentle pace.
In this episode, Aubrey and Megan discuss how to even begin to relax in the presence of Jesus in the midst of our suffering, what it looks like to walk with kids through their grief, and what leadership looks like when we are hurting.
If you find yourself caught in the wheel of doing instead of being with Jesus, this conversation will welcome you into the relaxing surrender of God's presence and the freedom to release all your cares to Him.
How do we begin to help young children understand loss? What can we do to help little ones grieve while we are walking through it alongside them?
For author, speaker, and podcaster Annie F. Downs, these questions became real when her infant nephew, TJ, passed away from a severe medical condition less than two months after he was born. Wanting to help her sister, Tatum Green, and her young son, Sam, process through this loss, Annie did what she was uniquely gifted to do. She wrote Sam a book to help him as he tried to grasp the loss of his little brother. Once it was written, Annie and Tatum knew that this book needed to be offered to other families beyond theirs who were trying to figure out through how to walk young kids through unimaginable losses and so together, they created the final version, “Where did TJ Go? A Book for Kids on Grief and Loss”. In it, they help children ask the hard questions that can come when they lose someone they love and find hope through the Gospel.
In this honest conversation, Davey sits with Annie and Tatum to talk about how a loss impacts a whole family, the best ways we can show up for those we love in their grief, and what we learn about the mystery of God through the rawness of our struggles and questions.
If you or someone you love is trying to navigate how to guide a young child through loss, this episode will encourage you that while it can be hard and difficult, simply giving kids the space to ask tough questions and talk about what they are feeling is the first step in walking them through the pain of grief and finding hope along the way.
How do we navigate those long and difficult seasons of waiting? What do we do when we don't know what to do or how to move forward in life?
Author and pastor Mark Vroegop doesn't love waiting. But it has been in those moments when life wasn't going as expected or plans weren't unfolding as he anticipated that he experienced a different kind of connection with God. Learning to wait, he says, is a crucial part of every believer's spiritual journey. As he studied what the Bible has to say about waiting and as he waited for things in his own life, Mark began to see the incredible fruitfulness that those seasons of uncertainty can produce. In his latest book, Waiting Isn’t a Waste: The Surprising Comfort of Trusting God in the Uncertainties of Life, he shows readers how to wait on God and what God can do through those times when life feels unsettled.
In this insightful episode, Davey and Mark discuss what true Biblical waiting looks like, how to reconcile God's goodness in seasons of waiting, and the collective waiting that we often face together with other believers.
If you're in a place where your life feels uncertain, this conversation will help you see that even in these times when it seems like nothing is happening, God is working and your waiting is never a waste.
How do we experience true rest in a culture that demands striving and encourages fatigue? What does it even look like to live from a place of rest instead of burnout and exhaustion like most people around us do?
For author, pastor, speaker, and mom of four, Jess Connolly, these were the questions she had to wrestle with in the face of all the demands coming at her from her various roles. When life hit a fever pitch and she seemed to reach a breaking point in every way, she knew that she needed more than some sort of watered down self-care answer. She needed to find a way to truly live from a place of trust in the goodness of God to provide and carry her through the noise and speed of life around her. It was through her own journey of figuring out how to deal with the soul-deep exhaustion that she decided to take others along in her latest book, Tired of Being Tired: Receive God’s Realistic Rest for Your Soul-Deep Exhaustion.
In this episode, Aubrey and Jess talk about how difficult it is to find rest in our modern culture, the different ways fatigue can show up, and how to lead in our pain and grief.
If you are tired of being tired--mentally, physically and spiritually--this conversation will show you that you don't need the world's false versions of rest, but you need an encounter with the one who offers you true rest in the depths of your being.
How do we hold onto faith in a world full of so much suffering and sorrow? Where do we find hope in the mystery of all the pain?
For Recording Artist and Author Ellie Holcomb working out her faith through song has always been the way God has invited her into the hope that exists in suffering. After walking through several years of losses and devastating heartache in the lives of those she loved, Ellie began to notice the ways in which so much of the goodness and joy in her life came birthed out of the pain. It is through music that she often shares her own wrestlings and the ways in which God allows us each the opportunity to experience hope in the canyons of the most difficult times. Her latest album, All of My Days, are Psalms set to music that have given her hope in the pain and suffering of this life.
In this episode, Davey and Ellie consider how we can get comfortable with the questions and doubts that arise out of our pain, where we can see God in the valleys of life and the incredible invitation to hope in the midst of it all.
If you've ever struggled to understand the mystery so present in pain, this conversation will be a balm to your soul as you are reminded that God is big enough to handle every question, every doubt, and every frustration we have in our most difficult days.
How can music help us heal? What role does worship play in our most difficult seasons?
Songwriter, worship leader and singer Mack Brock has written countless songs that have helped people connect with God. But there is one song that became a rally cry for Davey Blackburn after losing his wife, Amanda and their unborn child in a home invasion. It was the song Nothing is Wasted by Elevation Worship. Mack was one of the songwriters and the singer on the release of that song. Mack could never have known that the words he penned years ago, would become a glimmer of hope to Davey in his darkest moment and a living reminder on which he would later build a ministry.
In this full circle conversation, Davey and Mack talk about the impact of the song Nothing is Wasted had on Davey personally, how God can use worship and music in our healing and why it is so important to take small steps of faith into a bigger, unforeseen purpose.
If you've ever been impacted by a song in your journey towards healing, this episode will teach you that God will use even the music that we hear to speak to us in our pain and remind us that nothing is wasted.
How do we begin to lead our generation through pain? What do we do with the tension of our heartache and the hope we have in Jesus?
For author and pastor Levi Lusko, learning to grieve the loss of his daughter Lenya while leading others through their own pain has been a beautiful dance of both sorrow and hope. After losing Lenya from an asthma attack, Levi began to write down everything God was teaching him in the aftermath. Those lessons would eventually become a part of his best-selling book, Through the Eyes of a Lion: Facing Impossible Pain, Finding Incredible Power. Years later as Davey found himself in the depths of his pain after losing his wife Amanda, it was a text from Levi that would encourage his spirit and help him to find a way through his own grief.
In this encouraging conversation, Davey and Levi talk about how to deal with the feelings of guilt that can sometimes accompany a loss, why building a strong marriage is so important before a major trial, and the ways in which each new grief is unique.
If you've struggled to hold the tension between the hurt you've experienced and the hope you have in Christ, this episode will remind you that even with hope, our hurt will still hurt and God is with us through it all.
What does true friendship look like in the midst of the darkest moments in our lives? How do we show up for our friends who are hurting after a tragedy?
The Bible says, "A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity." (Proverbs 17:17) It can be hard to find the kind of friend that will stick with you in difficulties, but for Davey, Kenneth Wagner was the epitome of that type of friend. Davey and Kenneth's friendship began in college and grew through each season of life: marriage, starting their families, and pastoring. It also grew through the most devastating time when Davey lost his wife Amanda and their unborn child in a home invasion. Kenneth did what any true friend would do in the unimaginable: he showed up. And he kept showing up in each and every way he could as Davey tried to rebuild his life and find healing after heartache.
In this heartfelt episode, Davey sits down with his best friend, Kenneth, to hear his unique perspective as he watched the tragedy and subsequent redemption unfold in Davey's life. They discuss what it looks like to be a good friend, how powerful the ministry of presence can be, and the importance of seeing God's kindness in our lives.
If you're walking beside a friend who is hurting, this conversation will encourage you to step into the space of their pain where no words are necessary but where all that is needed is your presence that reminds them that they are not alone.
What happens when we attempt to selectively numb our pain? How does a season in the wilderness of suffering transform us if we allow it?
Dr. John Walker has been a guiding voice and encouragement to countless pastors who find themselves in the throes of trauma, tragedy or burnout. He has offered a safe landing place for those who are tasked with shepherding others through the organization he founded called Blessings Ranch, a counseling and coaching ministry to help leaders live, lead, and finish well. For Davey, Dr. Walker was a vital voice on his healing journey, offering him a lifeline in the traumatic aftermath of losing his wife, Amanda.
In this very meaningful conversation, Davey gets to sit down with the very counselor who helped guide him on a path of healing and transformation after the immense pain and suffering he endured. They talk about the coping mechanisms we often look to after sorrow, why self-care is so important for our emotional and spiritual health, and how transformation happens.
If you've ever found yourself trying to ignore the pain you're feeling, this episode will convince you that going around it isn't an option, but if you choose to go through it, you will not only find healing on the other side but joy and life again as well.
How do you help an adult child who is experiencing an unimaginable loss? What does it look like to parent our kids who are grown and who are walking through difficult seasons?
For Davey's parents, Dave and Brenda Blackburn, navigating how to help Davey walk through his own grief while also taking the time to grieve their own pain of losing their daughter-in-law, Amanda, and unborn grandchild was at times very difficult. Yet through their own hurt and watching Davey walk through his, they learned that many of the same parenting principles they had used throughout Davey's life applied in his season of suffering as well. It was through prayer, giving Davey space when he needed it, being there for him, and loving him through the ups and the down that God showed Dave and Brenda how to be the kind of parents their adult son needed as he walked through a tragedy.
In this episode, Davey sits down with his parents to talk about the difficulty of watching your adult child hurting after loss, how to be there for your kids, and what it looks like to build a foundation of faith in your children before they experience pain and suffering.
If you are a parent walking through a season of heartache of any kind with your adult child, this conversation will give you hard-won wisdom as to how to even begin to love and show up for your children, even when they are grown and living their own lives out of your home.
What does God invite us into in our pain? How do we learn to bring our honest emotions and thoughts to God?
Pastor and author Rich Villodas has learned and taught others the importance of choosing honesty through lament when it comes to engaging with feelings of grief, anxiety and every other emotion that is a part of the human condition. As he has pastored in one of the most diverse parts of the country, he has walked with many individuals through their own stories of pain from their families of origin, loss, and disappointment and has led them towards the invitation from God to confess and name what they are feeling while leaning into the practice of lament.
In his latest book, The Narrow Way: How the Subversive Way of Jesus Satisfies Our Souls, Rich teaches how the Sermon on the Mount is an invitation to a countercultural way of living that will lead to peace, love, and fulfillment in a generation where anxiety, depression, and polarizing politics seem to lead the way.
In this episode, Aubrey and Rich talk about why vulnerability and inner work are so important for both leaders and lay people alike, how we can begin to address our pain, and the difference between good and bad self-awareness.
If you have found yourself running from the reality of your pain, this conversation will encourage you to take the brave step of facing what you're feeling and allow God to meet you in the truth of where you are.
What do we do with all of our limitations? How do we begin to reframe the limits of our bodies and our lives in a way that allows God to use the boundary lines He has placed around us?
For speaker, author and mom of seven, Sara Hagerty, it was the many limits of her journey with infertility, motherhood, walking her kids through their own pain and grief after adoption, and the daily reminders of her finite ability to deal with all the challenges she was facing that led her to look at what God may be doing in her limitations. In her latest book, The Gift of Limitations: Finding Beauty in Your Boundaries, Sara explores how our limits may actually be the grace of God rather than a withholding of something better.
In this insightful conversation, Davey and Sara talk about what God may be doing in our limitations, how we can find the beauty in the small, and the power of naming our limits.
If you've ever found yourself discouraged by the very things that reveal your humanity, this episode will encourage you to reframe the way you see the boundaries in your life and find beauty in the gift of your God-given limitations.
How do we live a more connected life with Jesus when this world offers so many distractions? What would it look like for individuals to experience personal revival in their own faith that could spark revival in other's lives as well?
For author, podcaster and Bible teacher Lisa Whittle, it was her own journey towards seeking more of God that led her to write about it. As a woman in ministry, Lisa has seen and faced many challenges, but through it all, she was able to find God more and more. By asking God for her own personal revival, Lisa began to see all the ways the enemy of her soul attempts to keep her from it. From people pleasing and anxiety to social media and the celebrity culture that has infiltrated the Christian spaces she has been in, Lisa knows that there are many things that can derail her from living out of a whole hearted devotion to God. It is why she decided to update and re-release her book, I Want God: How to Love Him with Your Whole Heart and Revive Your Soul. As God continued to draw her own heart into personal revival, she realized the message she wrote years ago had even more relevance for our current culture.
In this episode, Aubrey and Lisa talk about the challenges many women face in ministry and how to overcome them, what personal revival looks like in both seasons of normalcy and seasons of pain, and how the fear of man can keep us from the freedom God so longs to give us.
If you've ever desired to experience more of God in your own heart and life but don't know how, this conversation will teach you the simplicity of loving Him and reviving your soul in the process.
How do we begin to experience the strength of God in the middle of our weaknesses? How can we allow the Creator of all to enter into our greatest place of need?
For author and podcaster Emily Jensen, walking through her son's medical challenges revealed weaknesses in her spirit that were unlike any she had faced before. The missed milestones, the extensive plans for intervention, and her own grief in the midst of it all revealed to her a need for God's strength where she felt the weakest. It was learning to navigate the waters of parenting a child with special needs that led her to a greater reliance on the Heavenly Father's power in her life. Through co-hosting the Risen Motherhood podcast and her recent book, He is Strong: Devotions for When You Feel Weak, Emily explores what it looks like to truly lean into the supernatural strength we all need when it comes to all the ways we experience brokenness this side of heaven.
In this honest conversation, Eric sits down with Emily to talk about the different kinds of weaknesses we can face, the challenges of parenting a child with special needs and how the gospel applies to all of our weaknesses.
If you've ever found yourself at the end of your own strength, this episode will serve as an encouragement that it is in that place that God's power is most magnified in your life.
How do we practice the way of Jesus when our lives are riddled with pain and suffering? What does it look like to grow spiritually when we are hurting?
Author and Bible teacher John Mark Comer has been leading others towards what he calls an apprenticeship with Jesus, teaching how we can learn the intended rhythms and practices God wants us to engage in by simply looking to how Jesus walked and talked in this world. We are all being spiritually formed by something, he argues, and if we want it to be a formation in the likeness of Christ then we need to learn to sit with Him, become like Him and do the things Jesus did. This is the very message of his latest book, Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus, Become like him, Do as he did, which can help Christians learn the spiritual disciplines that Jesus taught and modeled for all believers.
In this deeply insightful conversation, Davey and Aubrey chat with John Mark about what spiritual formation is, what types of spiritual disciplines we should be doing in our seasons of pain and suffering, and the important impact of community when we are hurting. They go on to talk about the dark night of the soul, a spiritual experience often described by theologians but rarely discussed in churches, in which God removes the felt sense of his presence while remaining as near as He ever was. It can be one of the most disorienting experiences for those who encounter it and yet as John Mark shares, there is a richness offered in the spiritual life of the one who walks through it.
If you've been struggling to do basic spiritual disciplines in your suffering or if you've been wrestling with a deep sense of God's absence in your life, this episode is a gentle reminder that God is with you when you are hurting and that He invites you into rest and to simply be when you don't have the strength to do.
Have you ever wondered if you are still truly healing when the pain feels as fresh as the day you experienced a past loss or grief? How do we know that healing is happening as time moves forward, but our ache remains?
Davey Blackburn, Aubrey Sampson, and Eric Schumacher are not only hosts on the Nothing is Wasted podcast, but all have experienced their own seasons of deep grief, loss, trauma and tragedy. With pastoral wisdom and the heart of fellow sojourners in the valley, this episode is a unique roundtable conversation of what healing truly looks like at different points in our journey. Speaking from raw vulnerability, our Nothing is Wasted hosts share their own personal walk through pain and the often times messy, winding path towards healing.
In this conversation, Davey, Aubrey, and Eric tackle the role time plays in our pain, what to do when it feels as though God is absent in the days after loss, and how the journey towards healing is never a perfectly straight one.
If you are struggling to recognize whether or not healing is happening in your own life, this episode is a gentle comfort in knowing that hurt may remain for your days here on earth, but there is a hope beyond what you can see that will one day undo all the pain you've encountered.
How do we enter a new year after a loss or trauma? What do we do when it feels like that flip of the calendar means leaving something we held so dear in the past?
The truth is with every new milestone, including a new year, our pain can seem to be amplified by the memories of what we've lost. It can be hard to enter a new season knowing that parts of ourselves, people we love and our lives as we once knew them are in the year we are leaving behind. How do we even begin to navigate a beginning after such a tremendously painful ending?
In this episode, Davey spends some time answering the question of what it looks like to walk into a new year after loss, trauma, tragedy or pain. He shares his own personal journey after losing his wife Amanda and how we can still have agency in our lives when it seems like we have no control over anything in our lives.
If you're stepping into this new year with a sense that something so precious is remaining in the past one, this conversation will encourage you with practical ways that you can keep walking forward towards hope and healing.
The holidays can feel especially tender for those of us who have recently experienced a loss, trauma or transition. Figuring out how to move through a season where it can seem like the whole world is experiencing happiness while we are struggling with feelings of grief and sadness is hard.
How do we begin to find hope for the holidays? How do we navigate the waves of emotions and the changes in traditions we once held so dear?
In this special release episode, join Amy Sylvestre, Community Director here at Nothing is Wasted, as she shares practical wisdom from a previously recorded masterclass called Hope for the Holidays: Navigating the Season When it Hurts. This podcast episode is a special gift to you, our Nothing is Wasted listeners, as you walk through this season.
If the holidays feel different than years past because of the pain you are enduring, let this episode offer you tangible ways to honor your grief and make it through this Christmas season.
Grief can feel crushing. How do we begin to take the steps to move through the pain we encounter? How do we help others who are experiencing loss?
Author Beth Marshall has felt the pangs of loss in her life. In one season, she lost three family members and began to wonder if the feelings she was experiencing were normal. Wondering if she could ever love her life again, Beth began taking some practical steps towards healing. It was through that journey that she began to learn from herself and others what was most helpful when people were walking through grief. It was those lessons that became the message of her latest book, Uncrushed.
In this conversation, Davey sits down with Beth and talks about how we can begin to track God's faithfulness in the moments where He seems absent, how to find the support you need when you are hurting, and practical ways to love those who are walking through loss.
If you are grieving or if you know someone who is, this episode will give you helpful wisdom on how to get through grief and find hope in the midst of it.
How do you find the words to pray when you are in the middle of loss and suffering? How do mark the holy moments, both big and small, in a special way?
Author Doug McKelvey and artist Ned Bustard have collaborated on three volumes of Every Moment Holy, books filled with liturgies to help people find the words in the joyful, the mundane and the most difficult moments of life. In their second volume, Every Moment Holy: Death, Grief, and Hope they offer prayers for those who are in the middle of life's most painful seasons. From helping those who are caregivers to offering words for those who are facing their own mortality, their book combines both visual art and words when it is hard to know what to even say.
Ned would eventually experience the art he was creating to help others serve as a balm to his own heartache in the loss of his wife. It was through the power of Doug's writing and Ned's creative process that Ned felt the power of this work in his own personal pain.
In this episode, guest co-host Eric Schumacher discusses with Doug and Ned how liturgies can help us find the words to pray, the creative process in creating meaningful work, and what happens when what you create for others ends up ministering to you.
If you've ever found it hard to pray in either the moments of grief or in the everyday moments, this conversation will teach you the power of liturgy in our journey as believers.
How do you navigate living between two completely different worlds? How do you honor the culture of a parent while being a part of another culture that doesn't always do the same?
For author Tasha Jun, learning to love and embrace the culture of her Korean mother while finding a place to belong in American culture left her feeling caught between two worlds at times. Being biracial, Tasha struggled with a sense of belonging, but even more so, with her own identity in feeling too much and not enough at times. Learning to love who God made her, including the different parts of her culture, helped her to fully experience the love of God in the messy middle of understanding and embracing who she was. As she became a mother, she saw the sacred gift in her own heritage and give that gift to her children.
In this raw and honest conversation, Davey and Tasha discuss what it is like to feel "othered," how writing can be a tool for healing, and seeing God meet you in your identity while learning to grieve the ways we feel like we don't belong.
If you've ever felt like an outsider in any sense, this episode will encourage you that you belong in the beautiful kingdom tapestry that God is weaving together and your unique makeup is exactly what God intended.
Masterclasses:
Grief is a sacred space where the veil of heaven gets pulled back. And yet, for so many, it can be hard to know how to respond to someone else's hurt.
Jeff and Mackenzie Rollins have experienced the depths of loss after losing their daughter. Since they have been through every parent's greatest fear, they have learned the holy way of holding space for those who are grieving through their ministry called Hope Family Care, which walks alongside families who have lost a child.
In this masterclass, Holding A Sacred Space: How to Walk Alongside A Grieving Heart, the Rollins will show you how to:
Step into the space of grief and loss
Practical ways to show you care
Why it matters to meet people in their suffering
If you've ever been at a loss when it comes to someone's pain, this class will give you the tools to meet people in their grief and guide them through it.
Resources
Website: https://hopefamilycareministries.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hopefamilycareministries/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hopefamilycareministries/
Have you or someone you know been impacted by the loss of a loved one by suicide? We know how confusing, shocking and painful any loss can be, but especially when it comes in such a tragic way.
In this masterclass, Surviving the Unthinkable: Finding God in the Aftermath of Suicide, with our very own Nothing is Wasted Certified Coach, Brooke Talley, Brooke shares the heartache she experienced in losing her husband to suicide and also the hope she’s found in Christ since then.
In this masterclass, Brooke discusses:
Untangling common emotional experiences like shock, shame, and guilt
Embracing mystery with a childlike faith
The cost of forgiveness
Naming the truth of God’s character in dark places
We wish you never had to experience the pain of losing someone you loved to suicide but we know that even in the depths of that pain, you can partner with God to take back your story and experience healing and hope.
Resources
Website: https://www.widowsong.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brooketalleycoaching/
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There are some topics that can feel taboo when it comes to the pain we’ve experienced–one of those is sexual betrayal. And while it can feel like no one talks about the impact of infidelity in a marriage, the truth is statistically somewhere between 20-40% of marriages are affected by it. In fact, there is a good chance that you or someone you know has walked through sexual betrayal and are looking for healing after the heartbreak.
It can be devastating to find out that your spouse has been unfaithful. Navigating sexual betrayal and all the muddiness involved in your marriage can be difficult alone, but finding healing in the ongoing fallout of the deception can seem impossible. Yet, no matter what happens in your relationship, there is hope.
This masterclass with our very own Nothing is Wasted Certified Coach, Karissa Sprinkle, called Broken Vows: Experiencing Wholeness and Healing after Sexual Betrayal, Karissa shares:
How to heal from the trauma of sexual betrayal
What forgiveness is and isn’t
Navigating friendships and faith struggles while in recovery
Sexual betrayal is something no one ever plans for when they say I do, but we know that even in the midst of that pain, God can bring healing and restoration when the pieces of your heart seem forever shattered.
Resources
Karissa Sprinkle Website: https://karissasprinkle.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karissasprinkle/
Cameron and Karissa Nothing is Wasted Podcast Episodes:
https://www.nothingiswasted.com/podcast1/episode-79
https://www.nothingiswasted.com/podcast1/episode-80
Nothing is Wasted Coaching: https://www.nothingiswasted.com/coaching
Karissa contact: hello@karissasprinkle.com
Leslie Vernick’s website: https://leslievernick.com/
Recovery Groups we were a part of: https://living-truth.org/
Intensive we went to: https://www.hishighplaces.org/
Another intensive we’d recommend: https://www.daringventures.com/
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The holidays can be some of the hardest days after loss. Figuring out what to do with past traditions or navigating the painful reminders of a holiday without someone you love can be devastating. We know there is no magic solution to making it through the holidays, but we want to help you as you move through those days.
In this masterclass called Hope for the Holidays: Navigating the Season When it Hurts with Amy Sylvestre, a certified coach at Nothing is Wasted, Amy will help you as you enter the holiday season and share:
When and how to grieve and When and how to celebrate
How to handle traditions and triggers
Practical tips for navigating the holiday season when it hurts
Walking through the holidays after loss can feel impossible, but we know there are ways to navigate that season with hope and healing and we want to help you do so!
Resources
Website: https://amysylvestre.com/
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Are you walking through a season of suffering and instead of feeling God’s presence so profoundly, you feel his absence? Does it seem like when you’re hurting the most, God is silent?
You’re not alone.
So many people have walked through their darkest moments and wondered Where are you, God? From David to Job, Elijah to even Jesus on the cross, pain can make you feel totally alone when you need to feel the nearness of the Lord more than ever. What do these seasons of silence mean? What could God be up to in those moments where He seems quiet?
This masterclass will answer just that. In God's Silence in Our Suffering: Seeing Him Move when You Can't Hear His Voice with Catherine Fitzgerald, Nothing is Wasted Podcast Producer and Content Director, you’ll learn:
Why God may seem silent in your pain
How to see God when you can’t hear him
What you need most in those seasons of silence
God's silence can be jarring, but silence doesn't mean He isn't there. Sometimes we just have to learn to quiet ourselves to hear Him.
Resources
The Dark Night of the Soul Part 1, John Mark Comer:
https://practicingthewayarchives.org/teaching/the-dark-night-of-the-soul
The Dark Night of the Soul Part 2, John Mark Comer:
https://practicingthewayarchives.org/teaching/the-dark-night-of-the-soul-pt-2
The Dark Night of the Soul: A Psychiatrist Explores the Connection Between Darkness and Spiritual Growth by Gerald May
The Louder Song: Listening for Hope in the Midst of Lament by Aubrey Sampson:
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After experiencing the depths of pain, you can feel shackled to the wounds of your past and not living a life of abundance that Christ promises. How do you learn to live free and fully alive in your story when you’ve faced so much?
Karrie Garcia has been there. Growing up a pastor’s daughter in a place where struggles weren’t discussed, Karrie found herself coping in unhealthy ways as a teen and young adult. She experienced many griefs and pains from a drug addiction, the suicide of her mother, and the breakdown of her first marriage. Now, Karrie helps people who have walked through difficulties in their lives through her non-profit, Freedom Movement, that helps people heal through membership, tours, workshops, and coaching.
In this masterclass, Karrie Garcia, author and certified life coach, shares How to Live Free and Fully Alive in Your Story when You Have Faced So Much Heartache.
In this masterclass, you will learn:
Three steps to ditch behavior modification and how to walk in true heart transformation
How to gain a deeper understanding of the roots of your inner critic and find the voice of truth in God’s Word
The ways in which God will use your past to qualify you for your calling
No matter what you've faced in your story, freedom can be found and you can learn to live free and fully alive.
Resources
https://www.karriegarcia.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karriescottgarcia/
Book: Free and Fully Alive: https://www.karriegarcia.com/free-and-fully-alive-book
Freedom Academy: https://www.karriegarcia.com/freedomacademy
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Is someone you love facing a trauma, tragedy, or major life transition and you find yourself feeling hopeless on how to help them through this valley?
We can feel ill-equipped to say the right thing or do something helpful when a friend, co-worker or family member is walking through pain.
If you find yourself not knowing how to enter into the pain of those around you, we want to help.
Author and speaker Vaneetha Risner has experienced a lifetime of pain from chronic illness that began in childhood, sexual betrayal in her marriage and subsequent divorce, and the loss of a child. At times, she has felt the care and love of those around her in really profound ways. And other times, she has felt more pain from the ways others have unintentionally caused more hurt in their response or lack thereof, to her suffering. Through it all, she loves to help those with a hurting friend know what to do in those moments of heartache.
Author and speaker Vaneetha Risner shares in this masterclass about Helping the Hurting: Practical Ways to Love a Suffering Friend.
In this masterclass, you will:
Understand why it is so important to step into one another’s pain
Learn practical ways you can love a hurting friend
Know what to and what not to say to someone who is suffering
It can feel so difficult to know what to say in someone else's pain, but taking the step to enter into their hurt is a holy work as your presence reminds them that they are not alone.
Resources
Website: https://www.vaneetha.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vaneetharisner/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vaneetharisner
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Life can feel downright crushing sometimes, can’t it? Whether it is a recent loss, financial difficulties, or some other curveball, the difficulties and challenges we face are immeasurable. Most of our energy ends up going to sheer survival each day.
But, what if there was a way through?
What if there was a way to navigate the pain life throws our way?
What if we could get uncrushed?
Beth Marshall knows what it’s like to feel crushed. After experiencing multiple losses of loved ones, she felt the unbearable weight of grief in her life. In her suffering, Beth began to offer a guidebook for others who were feeling the heaviness of loss. Through her writing, including her latest book Uncrushed, Beth offers a way through the most pressing pain of grief.
In this masterclass, let Beth guide you through Getting Uncrushed: When Life Throws You a Colossal Curveball.
In this masterclass, you will learn:
What to expect when you become newly acquainted with grief
The signs of grief and reassurance that you aren’t going crazy
How to begin to get out from the weight of loss and live uncrushed
Life is full of curveballs, but finding a way through can help you live uncrushed by the weight of the pain you've experienced.
Resources
Website: https://bethgmarshall.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GriefSurvivor/#
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How do I help my child heal from the pain they are experiencing?
It is hard enough to journey towards healing as an adult, but watching your kids suffer adds more and more layers to the complicated process of navigating our valleys.
How do we begin to help them wrestle through their difficult emotions and the suffering they are experiencing? How do we walk through it with them when we ourselves are trying to figure it all out?
It could be a recent loss ,a divorce, a big move, blending of families or some other major change that can cause both adults and kids to find themselves lost in a sea of feelings.
What if there was a way to help kids heal in the midst of whatever they are going through?
Dr. Josh Straub has been helping families learn the way to become emotionally safe and how to help kids untangle the web of emotions they are feeling. Through his podcast and book, Famous at Home and other resources such as the children’s book on emotional regulation called What Am I Feeling?, Josh, along with his wife Christi, are encouraging families to build healthy connections and emotionally safe relationships with a Biblical foundation and science-backed research.
In this masterclass, Josh shares about Helping Kids Heal: Entering Your Child's World in Grief, Loss, and Transition.
This masterclass will help you:
Learn why emotional safety is the key to entering our child's world and develop an understanding of the circle of security
How the brain grows and how emotional overwhelm influences the nervous system
Implement 6 ways to be emotionally safe for your kids
It can feel impossible to walk kids through pain, but by entering their world, you can begin to help kids heal from whatever they are facing.
Resources
Website: www.famousathome.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/famousathome
www.instagram.com/joshua.straub
Facebook: www.facebook.com/drjoshandchristi
Book: Famous at Home: 7 Decisions to Put Your Family Center Stage in a World Competing for Your Time, Attention, and Identity
Bonus Episodes:
Live Events:
Author of “Fear Gone Wild: A Story of Mental Illness, Suicide, and Hope through Loss”, Kayla Stoecklein joined us to share what she learned in the immediate aftermath of loss. When Kayla’s husband Drew died by suicide, she found herself living a story completely different than the one she had planned. Even in the midst of having her world turned upside down, Kayla is learning to rebuild beautiful, even if it is not the beautiful she once imagined.
Kayla’s Book: Fear Gone Wild: A Story of Mental Illness, Suicide, and Hope through Loss
Pain to Purpose Coaching
Need someone to walk with you through your valley? Our Nothing is Wasted Certified Coaches are ready to help you find your way from pain into purpose. Hire yours today by scheduling a free connection call and we’ll help you started with one-on-one help.
Have you found this Pathway helpful? Be sure to check out our other Pathways for more inspiring stories of hope in the face of tragedy, trauma and pain.
Let these Pathways be a roadmap for you on your healing journey.
How can speaking to God in a new way invite us into a deeper way of seeing and hearing from Him? What role can poetry play in helping us communicate with our Creator?
For pastor and author Tyler Staton, the words penned on a page during his cancer journey were never intended for anyone but himself and the Lord. Yet he discovered that the way he communed with God through scribbles in a tattered notebook offered a powerful invitation for all of us—to notice God's presence in both the ordinary moments and the difficult circumstances of our lives. Paired with Scripture, Tyler's book, After Amen: 50 Days of Poetry and Prayer, explores the beautiful intersection of poetry and prayer, offering a meaningful way to examine our lives while paying closer attention to God's presence within them.
In this episode, Davey and Tyler discuss how we can better recognize God in the everyday, why it is so important to grieve our losses, and the role spiritual practices play in carrying us into the presence of God amid our pain.
If you've ever struggled to find the words to speak to God, this conversation offers an invitation into the creative and poetic language that can help you feel seen, understood, and accompanied in your suffering.