Episode 280 - A Heaven Focus in Our Suffering with Randy Alcorn
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.
Episode 271 - Experiencing the Comfort of God after Loss and Trauma with Rachel Faulkner Brown
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.
Episode 240 - Making Your Way through the Seasons of Loss with Laura Hao
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.
Episode 218 - Learning to Depend on God after Loss with Lisa Appelo
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.
Episode 18- Todd & Kathy Erb pt. 2
Three years ago Todd walked into his house to find his worst nightmare and had his entire life turned upside down in a moment.
Kathy had her life turned upside down almost eight years ago when she lost her husband in an instant.
Both Todd & Kathy have walked through devastating loss and grief - hear how their stories collide and how they are seeking to find purpose and follow Jesus in the midst of the unexpected and unimaginable.
Episode 17 - Todd & Kathy Erb pt. 1
Three years ago Todd walked into his house to find his worst nightmare and had his entire life turned upside down in a moment.
Kathy had her life turned upside down almost eight years ago when she lost her husband in an instant.
Both Todd & Kathy have walked through devastating loss and grief - hear how their stories collide and how they are seeking to find purpose and follow Jesus in the midst of the unexpected and unimaginable.