Widowhood Pathway
When we say til death do we part, we never expect the pain that time will bring when we lose a spouse. Saying goodbye to your best friend, your partner, and co-parent is an excruciating loss. How do you find your way forward after the death of the love of your life? What do you do if you have children who are hurting as well? How do you blend together families if remarriage is a part of your story? There are so many factors that go into the grief and healing after losing a spouse. This Widowhood Pathway covers so many aspects of widowhood from a diverse group of widows and widowers. If losing a spouse is a part of your journey or you know someone who has, this pathway is a light of hope in the dark valley after losing a spouse.
Podcast Episodes:
How do you get back up after a life-shattering loss? How do you find hope when you must surrender to God the life you thought you’d have?
Courtney Pray Duke was living her dream with her husband, Andrew, and their three young children when one day changed everything. As she was putting the finishing touches on Thanksgiving preparations, Andrew—an avid cyclist—went out for a bike ride. Just a few hours later, Courtney received the call that divided her life into a before and after: her husband had been hit by a vehicle and did not survive.
In the depths of unimaginable grief, Courtney clung to God and slowly discovered the hope she had in Him in her darkest season. She shares that journey through heartbreak, faith, and restoration in her book, And She Got Up: Shattered by Loss, Restored by Jesus.
In this episode, Davey talks with Courtney about the power of surrender in the midst of pain, how to discern where God is leading when life takes an unexpected turn, and why remarriage after loss can be both beautiful and complicated as families blend and grief continues to be honored.
If you’ve ever wondered how you could possibly get back up after being shattered by loss, this conversation will point you to the healing and hope that can be found as Jesus restores us—step by step—along the journey.
WARNING: This episode contains conversations about suicide and suicide ideation and may not be suitable for all listeners/viewers.
How do you experience Jesus fully after coming to Christ? How can you continue to experience Him when life is full of pain and difficulties?
Naeem Fazal has an incredibly powerful testimony of how he first encountered Christ. Born into a Muslim family, Naeem experienced a supernatural experience as a young adult that forever changed the trajectory of his life. The cost was significant as he grew to know Jesus more intimately—eventually becoming a pastor—and faced being disowned by his loved ones. Later, he walked through his father’s attempted suicide and the sudden loss of his brother-in-law, moments that ultimately allowed him to show his family how they, too, could encounter Jesus in a personal and transformative way. In his book, Tomorrow Needs You: Seeing Beauty When You Feel Hopeless, he explores how fear can be our greatest enemy and how life with Jesus leads us into a new way of living—not from fear, but from love.
In this episode, Davey and Naeem talk about the supernatural and spiritual warfare, the differences between the Western and Eastern Christian experience, and how to navigate the estrangement that can arise when you choose to follow Christ.
If you’ve ever longed for a deeper connection with Jesus in the midst of hardship, this conversation will encourage you that—even in your wrestlings—you can find the intimacy with Him that your heart desires.
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 can you find hope when life shatters before your eyes? How can you continue to believe in the goodness of God after tragedy?
For young mom Kellie Bullard, she couldn't imagine how quickly life could change. In an ordinary night, her life was turned completely upside down when her husband, Alex, died in a car accident less than a mile from their home. What was once a picture perfect life was ripped apart as she was left grieving the loss of her husband with a seven week old baby and a 2 year old. But even in the midst of her greatest pain, God showed up in small and tangible ways along her journey towards healing. She wrote about the truth of her grief and what God taught her along the way in her new book, Behind My Smile: Finding Hope When Life Leaves You Feeling Shattered.
In this episode, Davey talks to Kellie about what it looks like to step out in faith when life is uncertain, how we can see God in our story, and the ways in which we can help young kids through their experience of grief and loss.
If you've ever experienced life changing in an instant, this conversation you show you how to see the goodness of God and find hope again amidst the shattered pieces of the life you once knew.
Warning: This episode discusses loss by suicide and may not be suitable for all listeners.
What do we do when it comes to understanding God's role in the events of our lives? How do we interpret the pain we endure, the evil that exists in the world and God's sovereignty in it all?
For author and professor of Old Testament Ingrid Faro, it was her own personal experience of pain and evil that led her to dig deeply into scripture in order to better understand how God works in the midst of suffering. Having experienced domestic abuse and divorce, a remarriage than ended when her husband died by suicide, and so much more, Ingrid began to ask questions when it came to pain and suffering and evil in our experience as humans. It was through her own story and scholarly study that she wrote Demystifying Evil: A Biblical and Personal Exploration, in which she examines the impact of evil and how to undo its power in our lives.
In this episode, Aubrey and Ingrid talk about how our stories can lead us to our life's work, the power of lament and what to do in the face of evil.
If you've ever struggled to make sense of the things that have been done to you, this conversation is a reminder that God can handle all our anger and questions, doubts and fears, and invites us to be honest with the pain that we are experiencing.
What does redemption look like in our stories of pain and suffering? How do we step into the story of someone we love and hold space for them?
For Nothing is Wasted co-founder, Kristi Blackburn, learning to be a place of refuge and healing for her husband, Davey, and son, Weston, years after they lost their first wife and mom, Amanda, has been no simple task. In the messiness of grief, blending families, and navigating the impact of trauma, Kristi has had to step into the call of being a wife and mother without a manual but only the grace of God to guide her. She has had to learn how to do it all from a place of faith and not fear, while also tending to her own story of shame, loss and grief. While it hasn't been easy, she has found that in the midst of it all, God has given her the strength and wisdom she has needed to be a source of healing and help to both Davey and Weston as they continue to put the pieces together of their shattered hearts.
In this heartwarming episode, Davey and Kristi have the opportunity to share candidly about what it has been like to step into each other's pain, the difference between redemption and restoration, and how to parent kids who have faced the unimaginable.
If you've ever struggled to see God's redemption plan play out in your story, this conversation will show you that perhaps it already has and you just haven't recognized it yet.
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.
How do you learn to feel the pain instead of just filling it? What does surrender look like when we've entered a story that we never imagined for ourselves?
On this first ever live Nothing is Wasted podcast episode from the Nothing is Wasted Book Launch event, Davey and Kristi Blackburn are joined by Daniel and Brittany Brooker to discuss the messy road of healing and redemption. The Brookers know pain--having both lost a spouse at a young age while parenting small children. Their process towards healing and hope and finding one another along the way has been full of incredible joy and difficult heartaches. Finding friendship with the Blackburns, another couple who understands the impact of trauma on a marriage and children and who are also blending together a family, has been a gift in the journey of grief, loss, and redemption.
In this conversation, the Blackburns and the Brookers discuss why we have to feel our pain and not just fill it, the importance of surrender in our deepest valleys, and how God gives us people along the way that can be a part of his healing plan for us.
If you've ever struggled to allow yourself the opportunity to really feel the emotions that come from a loss or your unique path of suffering, this episode will help you to realize that healing cannot happen until you admit there is hurt and allow God to meet you in the messy middle of it.
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.
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.
Have you ever faced the loss of a loved one and wondered what life was like on the other side of death? We all have seen heaven depicted in movies and literature, but what can we really expect based on Scripture?
For author and speaker Randy Alcorn, it was the work he did in writing his bestselling book, Heaven, that gave him peace after losing his wife, Nanci, to cancer. Knowing the truth about what life was like for Nanci after death, comforted Randy in his own suffering and grief. While we've all been told a lot of different things when it comes to heaven, knowing what the Bible says and anticipating the joy and peace that is to come is the only way through the unending pain we face. And if our eyes remain on this earth, we will continue to see the temporary heartache instead of the eternal joy that is to come.
In this conversation, Davey talks with Randy about the question everyone who has faced the loss of a loved one has wondered: what can we expect when it comes to heaven? They discuss why we need a heaven focus in our suffering, what we actually know (and what we don't) when it comes to heaven, and why our theology matters in our thinking about life beyond what we see.
If you've ever asked the question: what is heaven like?, this episode will begin to answer that question and more importantly, lift your eyes from your suffering and upward into what is beyond this broken, pain-filled earthly existence.
How do you continue on in faith when pain and tragedy seems to plague your life? How can you keep going towards healing and wholeness when heartache relentlessly comes into your life?
Those were the questions Rachel Faulkner Brown had to wrestle with after losing not one, but two husbands: one in an unexpected medical trauma and the other in a military plane crash. As a young widow twice, Rachel knew what it meant to experience pain, but learning to experience God's comfort took some time. It took her truly understanding God's abundant love for her, even when her circumstances felt quite the opposite. Since experiencing those losses, she has since remarried again and has walked with her husband through depression and anxiety and started a ministry for widows, encouraging them to hope in their pain to purpose journey. Through it all, Rachel has found a rich faith that is rooted in trusting Jesus in every season of life. While it has never been easy, it has been what has carried her through the valleys she has encountered.
In this episode, Davey sits down with Rachel to discuss the importance of knowing our identity and God's love for us before we can ever begin to heal, how our worship can become a weapon against the enemy, and the power of encountering God's comfort in our pain.
Chances are you haven't experienced the level of loss and pain that Rachel has, but this conversation will spur you on in your journey towards faith and hope in whatever hurt you are enduring.
Have you ever felt like you've just gotten to a good place in life only to have it completely unravel unexpectedly? What do you do when you had finally reached a mountaintop and then find yourself in the deepest valley?
Danita Jenae knows all to well how life can be looking up only to seemingly fall apart in a moment. After struggling with chronic health issues and finally finding some relief, her world was forever changed when her husband passed away. New to town, without a community and just before the world changed for everyone with the pandemic, Danita didn't even have the resources she needed to make it through such a devastating loss. But God was gracious and even in the isolation, the loneliness, and the doubts, He proved Himself faithful in Danita's story.
Davey and Danita both know the pain of losing a spouse and how it can forever change your life. In this conversation, they talk about what to do in the silence and doubt after loss, why lament is so imperative for finding our way through grief, and how to help kids through grief when we don't know what to do.
Whether you've seen mountains crumble around you or not, this episode is a reminder that in our greatest pain, God is still making a way for us.
What happens when we start to share our story of pain and loss? How can retelling what we've walked through help us in healing?
For Jonathan Pitts, sharing the story of how he lost his wife, Wynter, has been a part of the process God has used to heal his greatest loss. In 2018, life was going well for Jonathan and his family. With an exciting upcoming move to the Nashville area and a new position as a pastor, Jonathan, Wynter and their four girls were excited about what was ahead. But within moments, their lives took a tragic turn that none of them could have imagined when Wynter died suddenly from a heart related issue. Just like that, Jonathan and his girls were on a new trajectory in their lives as they continued on with the move and began a completely new life without Wynter.
In this episode, Davey and Jonathan talk about how so much of our healing can come as we share parts of our story, the importance of having permission to feel what we feel, and ways we can combat shame in our grief.
Life has taken unexpected turns for the Pitts family as Jonathan has now remarried and pivoted in his professional life, but this conversation is a reminder that as much as life can change in an instant, God remains the same.
If you've been around here at Nothing is Wasted, you probably know the story of how we came to be as a ministry. It was after his own pain to purpose journey in which Davey Blackburn lost his wife, Amanda, and their unborn child in a tragic home invasion that God birthed this idea of a ministry that walked others through whatever pain they faced.
In this special two-part conversation, Davey sits down with Aubrey to discuss what the past few months have been like as the legal side of their journey came to a close with the trial and sentencing of the perpetrator of Amanda's murder.
For many, it may come as a surprise that this part of their story is just now happening, seven years after that fateful day that forever changed Davey's life. And yet, for the Blackburn's and Amanda's family, the significance of the number seven, a number that means completion in Scripture, is more than a mere coincidence. In spite of all the suffering they've endured, the timing is just another reminder that God has been with them every step of the way. And as this chapter in their journey comes to a close, a new one is beginning.
In Part 2 of this two-part episode, Davey shares walking through the sentencing of one of the accomplices in Amanda's case, how you never know the impact your response to your story may have on others, and the wrestlings that can come as we struggle to understand God's justice in our hurt.
Whether you've been following Davey's journey since the beginning or if you are new to the Nothing is Wasted family, this conversation will encourage you to press into the hard parts of your journey with God because His faithfulness will be revealed and redemption will come in the most unexpected of ways.
If you've been around here at Nothing is Wasted, you probably know the story of how we came to be as a ministry. It was after his own pain to purpose journey in which Davey Blackburn lost his wife, Amanda, and their unborn child in a tragic home invasion that God birthed this idea of a ministry that walked others through whatever pain they faced.
In this special two-part conversation, Davey sits down with Aubrey to discuss what the past few months have been like as the legal side of their journey came to a close with the trial and sentencing of the perpetrator of Amanda's murder.
For many, it may come as a surprise that this part of their story is just now happening, seven years after that fateful day that forever changed Davey's life. And yet, for the Blackburn's and Amanda's family, the significance of the number seven, a number that means completion in Scripture, is more than a mere coincidence. In spite of all the suffering they've endured, the timing is just another reminder that God has been with them every step of the way. And as this chapter in their journey comes to a close, a new one is beginning.
In Part 1 of this two-part episode, Davey recounts what he encountered during the trial, how he learned to find closure outside of the courtroom, and the way the picture of his earthly father helped him deeply understand the posture of His heavenly one in the depths of his pain.
Whether you've been following Davey's journey since the beginning or if you are new to the Nothing is Wasted family, this episode will remind you that even in the complicated parts of our story, God is ever so near.
There are moments in life where in an instant, everything changes. How do you choose joy when your whole life is blindsided by pain? How do you find hope when you don't even know what the next hour may bring?
For Kelli Campbell-Goodnow, she never imagined the turn her life would take one night in January 2016. As she went to sleep, her life was good with her loving husband, United States Marine CH-53 pilot Major Shawn Campbell and her four children that she homeschooled at their dream duty station in Hawaii. But when she awoke, she got the call that every military wife fears, there had been an accident. For five days, rescue workers searched for the wreckage of a two helicopter collision off the coast. Soon thereafter, the search ended and Shawn was among the twelve Marine lives lost.
Kelli would have to immediately step into a completely unknown life. She would pack up her home and move across the country to be with family. She would decide to put her kids in school instead of homeschooling. And she would remind herself that while everything around her was changing, God did not.
Davey and Kelli discuss why it is important to pay attention to the small details of our stories as they unfold, the daily act of surrender that grief requires of us, and the ways we can trust God even when our lives change completely.
Kelli's story will help you face whatever circumstances you are in with a determined perspective to see God in the midst of it.
Losing a spouse is devastating. Losing a spouse to suicide is full of layers of pain and questions. How do you even begin to wrap your mind around such a traumatic event and how do you walk your children through their pain? What do you do when a new tragedy stirs up your past wounds and hurts from your childhood?
Blake Williams has spent the last year navigating those questions and so many more after losing his wife, Hope, to suicide. Having wrestled with mental health issues and chronic pain, Hope took her life in the couple's home and Blake found himself in the middle of a story he had never imagined for himself or his five children. As he has started to heal and move forward, the pain was a reminder of some of the past lies that haunted him his whole life after being abandoned and rejected by his parents. Blake could have easily allowed the old scripts he so often felt in his life to become his reality, but instead, he decided to shift his perspective from that of a victim into a victor.
In this transparent conversation, Davey and Blake talk about the importance of not allowing our past to dictate our future, the paradigm shift that is necessary to keep us from going under from our hurt, and the value in learning to speak truth to the lies we are believing.
You'll be encouraged to look through a different lens when it comes to your history, no matter what you have experienced.
There are some stories with such unfathomable pain that it can seem impossible to ever see a glimpse of redemption throughout them. When the depth of heartbreak is so great, how can you ever see the light of goodness again?
Jerry Sittser has walked a road of catastrophic loss that most of us cannot even imagine. In 1991, Jerry and his wife and children were hit head on by a drunk driver. In an instant, life as Jerry knew it was completely over as the wreck claimed the life of his wife, his young daughter, his mother and the wife and unborn child of the other driver. There in the complete wreckage of his life, Jerry slowly began to learn how the must excruciating of suffering can grow the soul in unimaginable ways. The lessons Jerry learned through his own grief have served as a healing balm to many through his groundbreaking book, A Grace Disguised. Recently revised for a 25th Anniversary edition, Jerry vulnerably shared how grief has not only changed him, but grown him in ways that only suffering can. Through his story, he recognizes how all griefs, whether comparable or not to his own, invite us to step in to a grace that transforms us.
In this episode, Davey talks with Jerry about how experience can and ultimately has to be, the catalyst for our growth, the tensions that exist in pain and suffering, and how to step into the questions that inevitably come from our greatest pain.
With a hard won wisdom, a theological richness, and a profound outlook, Jerry's insight will help you process any grief you've experienced through a completely new lens. This conversation is one you'll want to listen to more than once as you glean from the deep well of Jerry's experience and wisdom.
What do you do when you were living the life you always dreamed of and find it taken away in a matter of moments? How do you learn to trust God after a tragic loss? How can you forgive when a grave injustice is done against you and your family?
Laura Hao had to answer these questions and so many more when she lost her husband in a senseless murder in 2018. Laura had always dreamed of becoming a missionary since she was a little girl. She realized that dream and moved to Asia as a young woman. There, she met her husband, had her four children and began working as missionaries in the place the Holy Spirit had planted a seed of a dream in her heart so many years ago. Together, they experienced blessing and favor as they served the Lord and sought to build the Church in a closed part of the world.
But that all changed just two days after returning to the United States for a time of refreshment and visiting loved ones. While packing her daughter's bag for camp the next day, gun shots echoed just outside the door. She opened it to find a traumatic scene, her husband was lying lifeless on the ground after being shot in a random act of violence.
Laura experienced the depths of the darkness that grief can bring. Feeling buried like a seed, she felt as though she was frantically grappling her way out of the dark. But through it, she also experienced the illuminating light of truths that can only be found in the recesses of pain. In this raw conversation, Davey and Laura talk through a shared experience of learning to live in the darkness of a painful loss, how to trust the Lord in the seasons fo grief, and how justice, mercy and forgiveness all coexist.
The truths Laura and Davey share are ones that will help you as you navigate the most difficult parts of your story with honesty and hope, whatever it may be.
What if your worst-case scenario happened? Could you still say that God is good? For military spouse Liset Navas, those questions prompted a searching and wrestling with God long before she lost her husband, US Marine Captain Mo Navas in combat in 2020.
Just days before the world shut down from Covid, Liset got the knock at the door that no military wife wants to receive.
In her grief, Liset found that she had to answer those hard questions about God and His goodness while walking her four young children through the painful loss of their father.
In this episode, Davey has a conversation with Liset about the importance of numbering our days as well as our spouse's, grieving with hope, and leaning into the fears and doubts that come before and after a loss.
Whether or not you are a military spouse, this episode is a powerful challenge for us all to keep a heavenward perspective about life and learn to live each day to the fullest.
Have you ever asked yourself how life can be good again after a devastating loss? Have you found yourself having to learn to depend on God in your deepest pain?
Author and speaker Lisa Appelo knows all too well what it looks like to search for meaning and joy in life when your world falls apart. In the summer of 2011, she found herself a widow and single mom of seven children after the sudden, tragic loss of her husband, Dan.
Davey chats with Lisa about how she walked her children through their own painful grief, how death revealed her idol of self-sufficiency and how she learned to lean on God for everything in her journey towards healing.
Whether or not you have lost a spouse, Lisa's wisdom on how pain can shape us and wake us up to eternity is for you. Her story is a reminder, no matter what your pain, that life can be good again.
How do we learn to walk with grief? Clarissa Moll has been learning to do just that ever since losing her husband, Rob, in a tragic hiking accident in 2019. Through her pain, Clarissa has seen grief transform her into a more compassionate person while teaching her how to live more fully in the midst of great loss.
In this conversation, Davey and Clarissa sit down to talk about what to do with the most intimate, sacred parts of your story, how to transform your trauma into post-traumatic growth and ways to help others who are hurting while still in your own pain.
On one fateful day, Jon Hagedorn gathered his wife and children to engage in a family tradition of theirs, something they did to make sure they always remembered God’s goodness and faithfulness. But they couldn’t have known how much that belief was going to be tested.
Mere hours later, Jon’s wife died suddenly. Facing life as a single father while dealing with his own grief, Jon had no choice to face the same questions that any of us would ask in that situation.
Is God really good or really faithful if he let this happen?
To conclude our Widowhood Series, Jon sits down with Davey to share his story and how he found a deeper, richer knowledge of God in the midst of unimaginable pain.
We all hope that our faith will leave a legacy, that our decisions to follow God even in the middle of incredible hardship will have affect the lives of people who haven’t even been born yet. Faithfulness, it turns out, has a way of rippling across generations to impact the lives of our children’s children’s children.
This is the story of Jim and Martha Blackburn. Having both lost their first spouses themselves, Jim and Martha found themselves in a unique position to minister to Davey, their grandson, in the wake of the loss of his late wife Amanda.
To continue our Widowhood Series, Davey sits down with his grandparents Jim and Martha as they share their story of loss, healing, faithfulness, and redemption.
There are certain words and phrases that we all dread to hear, and perhaps one of the worst is when a doctor says “cancer.” When Brandon Janous’ wife was diagnosed, he knew their family was in for a long, hard struggle. But sadly, Brandon’s wife wouldn’t make it through this season.
Suddenly left grieving one of the worst losses imaginable and with three children to take care of, Brandon found himself in an impossible situation.
In this installment of our Widowhood Series, Brandon sits down with Davey to share some of his story and what he’s learned about who God really is through this painful season.
Masterclasses:
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/
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 God's Word reveal His character to us in seasons of suffering? What can the stories of those in Scripture teach us as we walk through the valleys of pain?
Authors and Bible teachers Anne Graham Lotz and Rachel-Ruth Lotz Wright were raised on a firm foundation of faith and have spent their lives passionately teaching and sharing God's Word. Yet it was through their own personal trials—Anne's sudden loss of her husband and then her father, evangelist Billy Graham, as well as her cancer diagnosis, and Rachel-Ruth's series of heart-related health challenges and subsequent PTSD—that God illuminated powerful lessons about suffering through the story of Joseph.
Drawing from these experiences, Anne and Rachel-Ruth share the wisdom and hope found in their latest book, God Won’t Leave You There: Joseph’s Story.
In this conversation, Davey, Anne, and Rachel-Ruth discuss how our deepest messages often emerge from our own stories, how to overcome bitterness, and how to discover what God wants to teach us through our pain.
If you find yourself in a pit like Joseph, wondering where God is, this episode will remind you that no matter what you're facing, God won't leave you there.