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If you are like many Christians, we have been taught that happiness is more of a fleshly thing, and that we shouldn’t be trying to be happy. “God isn’t interested in your happiness.”

Really???? Then what is heaven about? Why does God try so hard to get us to believe and receive His love for us?

Happiness should not be our main goal in life, but happiness should be part of the Christian life. It was in the days of the early church, and it should continue as His church.

Joy is spiritual fruit. Happiness is soul fruit.

Is it possible that the two are more related than we realized? Joy is an undercurrent in our lives. But joy can also be a visible excitement over God doing something in our life presently or hopeful anticipation for him to do something in the future, which is happiness.

We can (and should) have both, even after the death of our child. It won’t happen right away, but we can move toward it, allowing it to slowly make its way back into our lives.

GPS Hope Members Library

Information on the December 2021 cruise

Please remember to give this podcast a rating and review to help other parents who are looking for something that will encourage them.

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.)

Katie Mullen was born on August 24 and is forever 19.

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, anything that gave us joy or made us feel fulfilled in life seems to be wiped out. Most of us aren’t suicidal; we just don’t want to be here anymore. We can’t imagine living life without our child being part of it and we know we can’t continue to live for years with this kind of pain.

We need something bigger than us, and bigger than our pain, to live for with our remaining time here on earth. If none of those things that were part of our lives before the death of our child are big enough, then the reason to continue living is for our child who is no longer here with us.

Living for our child, because of his or life, can be a step toward having joy back in our lives again. In this episode, Laura shares why and how to do this.

Information on book When Tragedy Strikes: Rebuilding Your Life With Hope and Healing after the Death of Your Child

GPS Hope Members Library

Wall of Remembrance

“In Loving Memory” Heart Decals to put on the Hope Mobile

Please remember to give this podcast a rating and review to help other parents who are looking for something that will encourage them.

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.)

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

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

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

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

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 lives revolve around our children. They become one of our main reasons to live. When our child dies, the pain is so intense that it feels like we can’t continue to live (even if we have other children, maybe a loving spouse, a job we used to enjoy getting up for every day or a ministry that was extremely fulfilling).

We need to figure out how to want to live again.

Most of us don’t even think that is possible, but it is.

There are things we can do to help ourselves:

Joy is part of the Kingdom of God. Most of us have been robbed of that joy when our child died. As we wind down on the series of Finding Joy Again, we look at how we can get that joy back. Not a euphoric happiness, but an undercurrent that opens the door for all of the needs listed above.

GPS Hope YouTube channel

Please remember to give this podcast a rating and review to help other parents who are looking for something that will encourage them.

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.

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.

This week is a continuation of my talk with Joe and Shaunda Knight in our Finding Joy Again series. (If you didn’t hear last week’s episode, I highly recommend going back to hear Shaunda share about her “Matt box” in Episode 66: Fighting for Joy.)

This week the discussion covers:

When we ask God “Why”, we don’t usually get an answer. But there is a question He will answer, which is “How”. We hope our talk will help by giving you a changed perspective if this is an area that is a struggle for you.

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

Click here to find out more about the My Grief Journey: Coloring Book and Journal for Bereaved Parents (only $5 through the month of July 2020).

Knightsong Ministries website

To receive information on GPS Hope Bereavement Cruises when they become available, fill out this form.

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.)

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.

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 I started talking about scriptures that can be difficult to understand like having joy in trials or rejoicing always in the Lord. This episode was going to be part 2 of that discussion. Due to “the computer eating my homework”, I lost my notes and was unable to record what I had planned to share.

Instead, this episode is an edited version of a talk I had with Joe and Shaunda Knight, of Knightsong Ministries. Joe and Shaunda live full-time in their fifth wheeler, traveling the country sharing hope with others after the death of their son, Matt, in 2007. (No wonder Dave and I like them so much!)

It is a great discussion on the topic of finding joy again, including when Shaunda shares about her “Matt box”.

When Tragedy Strikes on Amazon (eBook on sale for only $3.99 through July 26, 2020.)

Click here to find out more about the My Grief Journey: Coloring Book and Journal for Bereaved Parents.

Go to the GPS Hope web store to order the My Grief Journey: Coloring Book and Journal for only $5 through the month of July.

Knightsong Ministries website

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 years old.

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

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

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.