Never would Mattie Jackson have imagined that at the age of twenty-eight, she would be suddenly widowed just 3 weeks shy of her first wedding anniversary.

Did God cause this to happen? Or, did He just allow it?

Amidst the tension of the God she knew and the reality she was living, the only way she believed she could make sense of the pain was by wrestling her way to answers.

So join Mattie and Mary on today's episode as they discuss the purpose God brought out of her pain and how she is learning to move forward in faith, not fear.

Tune in to hear,

• How God redeems in the details

• The grief rhythm that helped Mattie process her pain

• Why answers won't give us the comfort we long for

Mattie's loss may not hold the same details as your own experience but it is your story, too. Because to live in the depth of love and joy is to open ourselves to the risk of loss and sorrow.

But friend, the absence of the gift we long for doesn't mean there isn't also treasure to be found in the midst of our grief.

Follow Mattie here! https://www.instagram.com/mattiejackson/?hl=en

Check out her book here: https://www.thomasnelson.com/p/lemons-on-friday/

For full episodes notes, head to: https://marymarantz.com/themarymarantzshow

More About Mattie: Mattie Jackson is an author, podcaster, speaker, and co-founder of NaSHEville, a women's philanthropic apparel brand serving orphans, widows, and victims of human trafficking. In her first book, Lemons on Friday: Trusting God Through My Greatest Heartbreak, released in November of 2021, she chronicles the first three years of grieving her husband and her marriage. As she shares her grief, her healing, and her unshakeable faith with the world, her single greatest desire is to lead people to hope. "If someone suffering any sort of loss can hear what I've walked through and see hope in my story, then maybe they can walk away seeing a little more hope in their own."