All Episodes

Many of us struggle with our view or belief about God after the death of our child. We feel like He has abandoned us. But it is much more helpful when we see God as the rescuer in our story, rather than the cause of our pain by something he did or didn’t do.

In this episode, Laura takes a deeper look at Philippians 1:21 when Paul says, “to live is Christ and to die is gain.” It seems like a simple verse, but there is more to it than we might think.

Join Laura, as she talks about all of this in a way that allows us to see through different eyes that help us move toward a life of meaning and purpose again.

Preorder Together Forever CD for only $10 and get My Grief Journey book for FREE!

Click here to become a monthly partner, giving hope to other parents, or to give a special gift to keep this podcast going, along with providing  other needed resources to bereaved parents.

(GPS Hope is a 501c3 nonprofit and runs on the financial support of those who believe in passing along the hope they have received to others.)

Jadyn Philipps was born on August 17 and is forever 18.

Frank Cisewski was born on August 22 and is forever 34.

Evan Sabine was born on August 23 and is forever 15.

If you would like your child mentioned on the podcast the week of his or her birthday, click here to fill out the short form with the needed information.

The special song written for our children’s birthdays I Remember Well can be heard here.

www.gpshope.org

To have Laura come and minister at your event, contact us at [email protected].

Grieving Parents Sharing Hope (GPS Hope) is here to walk with parents through the darkness of child-loss, guiding them to a place of hope, light and purpose.

It is a safe place for anyone who has lost a child from this earth. There is no shame or judgment in where you are in this journey, including if you are struggling in your relationship with God or your faith has been completely shattered.

As a parent who has had a child die, it is very common to spend a lot of time thinking about the good things our children are missing out on because they are no longer here. We wish we could trade places with our kids because of those things.

But how often do we think about the fact that they are also missing out on sickness, disease and corruption? They will also never have to go through grieving your death and being here without you.

Trading places with our children may not be what we think it would be. If we could trade places with our children, we would be taking them away from a place with no sickness, no pain, no traumatic events, and removing them from a place of pure joy and love that goes beyond what can be measured.

These are some of the thoughts Laura shares on this week’s episode.

You will also hear the title song Together Forever, from Laura’s soon-to-be released CD.

Find out more about Pearls of Hope that was mentioned.

Preorder Together Forever CD and get My Grief Journey book for FREE!

Sign up to join over 1000 pareavors receiving a Weekly Word of Hope.

Click here to become a monthly partner, giving hope to other parents, or to give a special gift to keep this podcast going, along with providing  other needed resources to bereaved parents.

(GPS Hope is a 501c3 nonprofit and runs on the financial support of those who believe in passing along the hope they have received to others.)

Christopher Hotch was born on August 10 and is forever 31.

Miracle Valentina Harvison was born on August 12 and is forever 2 ½ months.

Rebekah Blakkolb was born on August 14 and is forever 20.

Joshua Egloff was born on August 15 and is forever 22.

Aaron Trebelhorn was born on August 16 and is forever 21.

Jeremy Bornemeier was born on August 16 and is forever 32.

If you would like your child mentioned on the podcast the week of his or her birthday, click here to fill out the short form with the needed information.

The special song written for our children’s birthdays I Remember Well can be heard here.

www.gpshope.org

To have Laura come and minister at your event, contact us at [email protected].

Grieving Parents Sharing Hope (GPS Hope) is here to walk with parents through the darkness of child-loss, guiding them to a place of hope, light and purpose.

It is a safe place for anyone who has lost a child from this earth. There is no shame or judgment in where you are in this journey, including if you are struggling in your relationship with God or your faith has been completely shattered.

There are two kinds of guilt. One is when we know we have done something wrong and need to do our part to make it right. The second kind is when something happens, and we blame ourselves after the event happened with information we have now that we didn’t have at the time.

Guilt gives us a heavy burden to carry and keeps us stuck in our grief. Feeling guilty about something that happened is not going to change it. Holding on to the guilt will continually drag you down – emotionally, physically and spiritually. We often hang on to guilt as a way of punishing ourselves, especially when an apology or getting answers is not possible.

It is important to release your guilt for many reasons.

In this podcast episode, Laura shares several of those reasons along with some tips to help overcome guilt. She also prays over those who are struggling with releasing themselves from guilt after the death of their child.

Read the blog: Forgiving Yourself After Child Loss

Listen to the podcast episode: Forgiving Yourself

Website: gpshope.org

Click here to become a monthly partner, giving hope to other parents, or to give a special gift to keep this podcast going, along with providing  other needed resources to bereaved parents.

(GPS Hope is a 501c3 nonprofit and runs on the financial support of those who believe in passing along the hope they have received to others.)

Oscar Lopez was born on July 26 and is forever 23.

Claire Rebecca was born on July 27 and is forever 5.

Easton Holden was born on July 28 and is forever 5.

Dayne Sturm was born on July 29 and is forever 21.

Whitney Leanne Garkow Seehusen was born on July 30 and is forever 31.

Mitchell Herrmann was born on August 1 and is forever 24.

Christopher Thomas Boseman was born on August 2 and is forever 32.

Travis M. Blair was born on August 9 and is forever 30.

Tony Summers was born on August 9 and is forever 15.

If you would like your child mentioned on the podcast the week of his or her birthday, click here to fill out the short form with the needed information.

The special song written for our children’s birthdays I Remember Well can be heard here.

www.gpshope.org

To have Laura come and minister at your event, contact us at [email protected].

Grieving Parents Sharing Hope (GPS Hope) is here to walk with parents through the darkness of child-loss, guiding them to a place of hope, light and purpose.

It is a safe place for anyone who has lost a child from this earth. There is no shame or judgment in where you are in this journey, including if you are struggling in your relationship with God or your faith has been completely shattered.

A parent who is in deep grief after the death of their child is in a very vulnerable place for the enemy’s attacks. Jesus knew what it was like to have a wilderness experience and have the devil come at him during a time of intense weakness.

In this episode, Laura continues looking at Jesus’ wilderness experience as he faces several temptations directly from Satan himself, and how what Jesus went through can help those who are in the wilderness of grieving the death of their child. (Click here to listen to Part One.)

July Book Special (Purchase When Tragedy Strikes and get another book of your choice for only $5)

Access the FREE GPS Hope members library for a downloadable PDF of Scriptures of Hope and other useful items.

Join over one thousand other parents receiving a Weekly Word of Hope.

Click here to become a monthly partner, giving hope to other parents, or to give a special gift to keep this podcast going, along with providing  other needed resources to bereaved parents.

(GPS Hope is a 501c3 nonprofit and runs on the financial support of those who believe in passing along the hope they have received to others.)

Robert William Corbett was born on July 20 and is forever 21.

Brayden King was born on July 22 and is forever 17.

Joey Figueroa was born on July 23 and is forever 39.

If you would like your child mentioned on the podcast the week of his or her birthday, click here to fill out the short form with the needed information.

The special song written for our children’s birthdays I Remember Well can be heard here.

www.gpshope.org

To have Laura come and minister at your event, contact us at [email protected].

Grieving Parents Sharing Hope (GPS Hope) is here to walk with parents through the darkness of child-loss, guiding them to a place of hope, light and purpose.

It is a safe place for anyone who has lost a child from this earth. There is no shame or judgment in where you are in this journey, including if you are struggling in your relationship with God or your faith has been completely shattered.

When our child dies, many of us feel like we have been led into a dark pit and abandoned by God. We don’t understand why God did not stop the death of our child, especially when we were doing everything right on our end to be a “good” Christian.

In Matthew 4, we read how right after God spoke with an audible voice from heaven how pleased He was with His Son, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into a wilderness where Satan attacked Him at a very weak and vulnerable time.

In this episode, Laura begins looking through the eyes of a pareavor at what Jesus went through during that time, and how it can help us in our “wilderness” experience.

July Book Special (Purchase When Tragedy Strikes and get another book of your choice for only $5)

Access the FREE GPS Hope members library for a downloadable PDF of Scriptures of Hope and other useful items.

Click here to become a monthly partner, giving hope to other parents, or to give a special gift to keep this podcast going, along with providing  other needed resources to bereaved parents.

(GPS Hope is a 501c3 nonprofit and runs on the financial support of those who believe in passing along the hope they have received to others.)

Abby Sherwood was born on July 15 and is forever 18.

Evelyn Grace MacQuarrie was born on July 16 and departed at her birth.

Madeline Youngdahl was born on July 16 and is forever 14.

Jack Crean was born on July 16 and is forever 18.

Jimmy LaPlante was born on July 19 and is forever 39.

If you would like your child mentioned on the podcast the week of his or her birthday, click here to fill out the short form with the needed information.

The special song written for our children’s birthdays I Remember Well can be heard here.

www.gpshope.org

To have Laura come and minister at your event, contact us at [email protected].

Grieving Parents Sharing Hope (GPS Hope) is here to walk with parents through the darkness of child-loss, guiding them to a place of hope, light and purpose.

It is a safe place for anyone who has lost a child from this earth. There is no shame or judgment in where you are in this journey, including if you are struggling in your relationship with God or your faith has been completely shattered.

The message I kept hearing from many different places for the first two years after my daughter leaving this earth was: Don’t do, just be. I believe it is a message we all need at some point when working our way through the darkness and back into the light.

The death of our child is a trauma, and we have some major healing that needs to occur in every part of us. We need lots of rest physically, emotionally, and spiritually for that to happen, which can be very difficult in our deep grief.

It is a process to learn how to rest in God, learning how to “just be” instead of feeling like we need to be “doing” something (or feeling guilty for not doing more than we are) which is what I talk about in today’s episode.

July Book Special (Purchase When Tragedy Strikes and get another book of your choice for only $5)

More information on the Rebuilding Your Life After Child Loss guidance courses (based on the book When Tragedy Strikes).

Information on joining Laura and GPS Hope on The Grief Cruise.

Click here to become a monthly partner, giving hope to other parents, or to give a special gift to keep this podcast going, along with providing  other needed resources to bereaved parents.

(GPS Hope is a 501c3 nonprofit and runs on the financial support of those who believe in passing along the hope they have received to others.)

Andres Martinez was born on July 7 and is forever 21.

Jessica Lynn Szerlong  was born on July 9 and is forever 30.

Stephanie Waters was born on July 10 and is forever 21.

Ethan Barclay-Weberpal was born on July 10 and is forever 18.

Charlie Rhodes was born on July 10 and is forever 9.

Everardo Martinez was born on July 11 and is forever 19.

Clifford Patrick Keenan Jr. was born on July 11 and is forever 24.

Norma Gomez was born on July 11 and is forever 12.

Eric Breslau was born on July 11 and is forever 25.

Hagan Jones was born on July 12 and is forever 20.

If you would like your child mentioned on the podcast the week of his or her birthday, click here to fill out the short form with the needed information.

The special song written for our children’s birthdays I Remember Well can be heard here.

www.gpshope.org

To have Laura come and minister at your event, contact us at [email protected].

Grieving Parents Sharing Hope (GPS Hope) is here to walk with parents through the darkness of child-loss, guiding them to a place of hope, light and purpose.

It is a safe place for anyone who has lost a child from this earth. There is no shame or judgment in where you are in this journey, including if you are struggling in your relationship with God or your faith has been completely shattered.

Our thoughts about spending time with God can be all over the place after the death of our child, and it may be the last thing we want to do if we are angry with him. Some of us used to feel close to Him before our loss, and now He feels very distant, as if He either cannot hear us or doesn’t care.

Just like there is no right or wrong way to grieve after the death of our child, there is no right or wrong way to spend time with God in our place of darkness. In this episode, my heart is to break off any preconceived ideas you have about the “right way” to have a quiet time with God, and to open the door to still sit with Him in the fullness of all your raw and real emotions.

Today’s episode was sponsored in memory of Dominic Cardenas.

More information on how to sponsor a podcast episode.

July Book Special (Purchase When Tragedy Strikes and get another book of your choice for only $5)

Click here to become a monthly partner, giving hope to other parents, or to give a special gift to keep this podcast going, along with providing  other needed resources to bereaved parents.

(GPS Hope is a 501c3 nonprofit and runs on the financial support of those who believe in passing along the hope they have received to others.)

Antonio Moir Catania was born on July 3 and is forever 29.

If you would like your child mentioned on the podcast the week of his or her birthday, click here to fill out the short form with the needed information.

The special song written for our children’s birthdays I Remember Well can be heard here.

www.gpshope.org

To have Laura come and minister at your event, contact us at [email protected].

Grieving Parents Sharing Hope (GPS Hope) is here to walk with parents through the darkness of child-loss, guiding them to a place of hope, light and purpose.

It is a safe place for anyone who has lost a child from this earth. There is no shame or judgment in where you are in this journey, including if you are struggling in your relationship with God or your faith has been completely shattered.

Last week we talked about how to answer the question, “How many children do you have?” This week we will discuss the question, “How are you?”

This is an area we are good at putting on a mask with those who have not lost a child, but we will take it off very quickly when around those who have. In this episode, I share some thoughts from fellow pareavors about this question, including how several of them answer the dreaded question, “How are you?”

More information on Hope for the Heart on July 17.

Receive Laura’s Weekly Word of Hope.

More information on the book Come Grieve Through Our Eyes.  (Scroll to the bottom to see what pareavors have to say about the book.)

Click here to become a monthly partner, giving hope to other parents, or to give a special gift to keep this podcast going, along with providing  other needed resources to bereaved parents.

(GPS Hope is a 501c3 nonprofit and runs on the financial support of those who believe in passing along the hope they have received to others.)

Lukas Christofferson was born on June 28 and is forever 19.

Dominic Cardenas was born on June 28 and is forever 24.

If you would like your child mentioned on the podcast the week of his or her birthday, click here to fill out the short form with the needed information.

The special song written for our children’s birthdays I Remember Well can be heard here.

www.gpshope.org

To have Laura come and minister at your event, contact us at [email protected].

Grieving Parents Sharing Hope (GPS Hope) is here to walk with parents through the darkness of child-loss, guiding them to a place of hope, light and purpose.

It is a safe place for anyone who has lost a child from this earth. There is no shame or judgment in where you are in this journey, including if you are struggling in your relationship with God or your faith has been completely shattered.

As a bereaved parent, getting asked what used to be a normal, simple question can cause confusion, guilt, anger or even bring us to tears. One of those questions is, “How many children do you have?”

In this episode, I share a recently received email on this topic along with my thoughts and experiences with this very common question that we no longer want to be asked, but find ourselves needing to answer.

More information on Hope for the Heart on July 17.

Receive Laura’s Weekly Word of Hope.

Email Laura a question: [email protected]

Click here to become a monthly partner, giving hope to other parents, or to give a special gift to keep this podcast going, along with providing  other needed resources to bereaved parents.

(GPS Hope is a 501c3 nonprofit and runs on the financial support of those who believe in passing along the hope they have received to others.)

Calvin Joseph Kendricks Jr. was born on June 17 and is forever 28.

Joe Luzzo was born on June 18 and is forever 17.

Tony Posatiere was born on June 18 and is forever 38.

Alyssa Tyner was born on June 19 and is forever 2 ½ years old.

Kari-Lee Venning (Birrell) was born on June 19 and is forever 25.

If you would like your child mentioned on the podcast the week of his or her birthday, click here to fill out the short form with the needed information.

The special song written for our children’s birthdays I Remember Well can be heard here.

www.gpshope.org

To have Laura come and minister at your event, contact us at [email protected].

Grieving Parents Sharing Hope (GPS Hope) is here to walk with parents through the darkness of child-loss, guiding them to a place of hope, light and purpose.

It is a safe place for anyone who has lost a child from this earth. There is no shame or judgment in where you are in this journey, including if you are struggling in your relationship with God or your faith has been completely shattered.

One of the struggles I hear from pareavors is the question: Why bother praying if God is just going to do whatever He wants to do and did not keep my child from dying?

This is something that bothered me as well for quite some time. In this podcast episode I talk about this area of prayer in our lives, along with sharing something the Holy Spirit showed me about why it is still important to pray.

Find out more about the book When Tragedy Strikes: Rebuilding Your Life with Hope and Healing after the Death of Your Child

Send me an email to let me know you left a review for this podcast: [email protected]

Click here to become a monthly partner, giving hope to other parents, or to give a special gift to keep this podcast going, along with providing  other needed resources to bereaved parents.

(GPS Hope is a 501c3 nonprofit and runs on the financial support of those who believe in passing along the hope they have received to others.)

Shaun Klein was born on June 1 and is forever 33.

Riley Whitehead was born on June 3 and is forever 19.

Aaron Paige was born on June 6 and is forever 21.

Beth Simmons Marsh was born on June 12 and is forever 58.

If you would like your child mentioned on the podcast the week of his or her birthday, click here to fill out the short form with the needed information.

The special song written for our children’s birthdays I Remember Well can be heard here.

www.gpshope.org

To have Laura come and minister at your event, contact us at [email protected].

Grieving Parents Sharing Hope (GPS Hope) is here to walk with parents through the darkness of child-loss, guiding them to a place of hope, light and purpose.

It is a safe place for anyone who has lost a child from this earth. There is no shame or judgment in where you are in this journey, including if you are struggling in your relationship with God or your faith has been completely shattered.