Meditation. What’s the first thing you think of when you hear that word?   Is it how God defines meditation - or is it how the world defines it?   This short episode is actually a clip I pulled out of another episode. After pulling it out I realized I wanted to share it with y’all! So in this little baby episode we dive into what meditation is, what God says about meditation, and if you should meditate at all.   I pray this episode blesses you!   🔗Links Mentioned in Episode: 31 Days of God’s...

Valentine's Day is next week. And when I think about love, I can't go without talking about the greatest love I've ever experienced...   The love of God in my grief.    After I lost Sam, the depth of my pain and sadness was so very deep, but God met me with love that was equally as deep.    So this episode is dedicated to him, the one who has been there for me every moment since we lost Sam and will be there for me every moment until I see him again.   The one whose love is literally the glue...

Grief affects every part of us - emotionally, mentally, and physically.    Anyone who has walked through deep grief will know the effect of grief mentally and even on our physical body.   So how do we start healing after grief?   Today I wanted to talk through 5 things we can do to bring healing mentally and physically so we can better process our thoughts and emotions during this journey.    And remember it’s just that - a journey. Show yourself lots of grace and kindness 💚   🔗Links...

In my grief journey after losing Sam, there have been many times that I’ve experienced joy and sadness all at the same time. But an important lesson I’ve learned is, feeling joy again IS POSSIBLE!    I know it doesn’t seem like you will ever feel anything but sadness (especially if you’re early in your grief journey), but I want to encourage you that feeling joy again is possible. And I share with you 5 things you can do to experience the joy of the Lord daily in your life.    🔗Links...

Is your daily quiet time getting a little stale? Are you tired of doing the same thing day after day and are looking for a way to freshen it up, make you excited to spend time with Jesus again?   We’ve all been there!   But no worries - I’ve got you friend! In this episode I bring you 4 things that you can do to help bring a new excitement to your quiet time.   I pray that you can use one of these ideas to help bring a new spark into the most important part of your day.   🔗Links Mentioned in...

Community is so important in this grief journey. Losing a child can make you feel so alone.    But I'm here to tell you that you do NOT have to walk this road alone!   There are so many options for you when it comes to having a support system in your life. Today I'm going to dive into 3 different places you can look for a community to walk alongside you.    Plus we never need to forget the one who will never leave us, the one who started walking this journey with you from the very moment you...

Everything changes after you lose your child. Your purpose and passions in life is no exception.   It can be hard feeling purpose or passion for anything after walking through such deep grief. And you’re right. In the beginning it’s all we can do to survive.   However, there will come a point in your grief journey that you’ll feel the pull to find a new purpose for your life. But how? Where do you even start?   In today’s episode I bring you simple steps you can do today to start finding your...

I know I’ve mentioned so many times that there’s not a right way to grieve. But is there a wrong way?   My initial reaction would be no, there isn’t a wrong way. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized there is a wrong way - a way that doesn’t bring lasting peace and comfort.   So today I wanted to share what that is and then give you some ideas on ways you can process your grief - all partnered with Jesus.   📄Show Notes: Find all links mentioned in this episode...

Jesus' birth brought us many things, but there is one gift that his birth brought us that is the greatest gift we could have as grieving parents.   Today I want to talk about everything that Jesus' birth brought us - all based off of Isaiah 9:6. And then I want to add one important gift that he gave us. One that is the greatest gift we can have on our grief journey. One that I can’t talk about without crying.   I pray that we always remember the reason for this season. And that we continually...

Social media. It’s the thing that takes up so much of our time, but we all know we should turn it off.   So why is it so hard to stop the scroll?   That’s what I go into in this episode. Plus I go through steps you can take to help reduce (or stop) your social media use and begin tasting the freedom that being away from your phone will bring.   📄Show Notes: Find all links mentioned in this episode...

After your child goes to heaven, there will come a time when you want to do something in their memory. Something to honor them. And there are so many different things you can do!   I wanted to bring you 5 ways that you can honor your child that you’ve lost. You can use these 5 ideas to spark your own ideas of what you can do.   Everyone’s journey is so different and unique to them, so there’s no right or wrong way and there’s no right or wrong time to do something in honor of your child.   I...

The holidays are upon us. After losing a child everything about the holidays can seem hard. But today I wanted to touch on one specific part of this holiday season - holiday parties.    Getting together with family and friends while you’re processing your grief can seem so overwhelming and impossible.    So I wanted to bring you some tips you can use to prepare for the party and also some things you can do while you’re there.    Remember, our goal is to survive!    I pray that these tips will...

All holidays are hard after losing a child, and Thanksgiving is no exception. It’s just another reminder that our child isn’t here.    So today, I want to help us get through the day by taking you through one of my favorite “Thanksgiving” verses in scripture - Psalm 107.    I walk through this portion of scripture verse by verse and relate it to this grief journey that we’re walking. Inside is a promise that is so crucial to us on not just Thanksgiving Day, but every day.    📄Show Notes: Find...

Gratitude and grief. They just don’t seem like they go together. How can we have thankfulness after we’ve lost our child?   It seems impossible.   While it’s not impossible, it also isn’t easy. It really takes concentrated effort to have gratitude in the middle of your grief. So why even try? What’s the big deal about gratitude?   In this episode I tell you why it’s important and I give you 5 ways that you can experience gratitude in the midst of healing after losing your child.    📄Show...

Distractions. Normally they are not a good thing. We hear all the time: Stay focused on your goals! Don’t get distracted!    But during your grief journey (especially in the early days), distractions are a very good thing.    When we sit for too long the grief and pain threaten to consume our mind, so we need to have some distractions ready to go for those moments.    Here are 4 things that I used in my own grief journey to help me keep my mind distracted from the pain that threatens to take...

We all know how important sleep is, but sleep is one of the things that is so hard to do after losing your child. There were so many nights that I would just lay awake, my mind refusing to stop long enough for me to go to sleep.    There were 2 things I did specifically that helped me be able to fall asleep in those early days, weeks, and months after losing Sam.    So today I wanted to share those things with you (and a few additional tips) in hopes that you’ll be able to finally fall asleep...

One thing that became crystal clear after we lost our son Sam is that I was done wasting time on things that didn’t matter. Because you never know how long you have on this Earth, I didn’t want to waste a moment on things that weren’t a priority.   But how do you know what’s a priority and what’s not?    In this episode I bring you through 4 steps to help you:   ➡️Figure out what’s important to you ➡️Know what order to place them in ➡️Find time in your calendar for these priorities   It’s...

After you lose a child, it wears you down emotionally, mentally, and physically. It feels as if we’ve just gone through battle. It’s important to be able to find some kind of rest after the dust of your loss settles. But I know that rest seems impossible while you’re starting to walk this grief journey.    So I wanted to share with you 5 different ways you can find rest for your mind and emotions. These are ways that I’ve used throughout my journey to help bring peace and rest to my...

Are you struggling with a mental battle? Do you feel overwhelmed by the thoughts that won’t go away? Is this mental battle stealing your peace and your joy? Are you ready to win victory over this battle once and for all?!!!   That’s exactly what this episode is about. I’ve recently been struggling with something mentally and the Holy Spirit helped me gain victory over it. So I knew I wanted to bring you the steps He showed me to win!   These are the exact steps I took to finally win the...

Welcome to the second part of our Walk With Us series!   Today we go into what to DO for someone who has just lost their child. It can be so hard knowing what to do for someone walking through such deep grief and sadness. Can you even do anything that will make a difference?   So I went back in my journey to when we lost Sam and thought about all the things that people did for us that I STILL remember to this day.    I hope that these 6 ideas will help you in knowing something you can do for...

Today I’m bringing you the first of a two-part series that I have called Walk With Us.    If you have someone in your life who has lost a child, these episodes are for you to help guide you in what to say and what not to say from a mama who has lost her child too.   These episodes are dedicated to all my family and friends who weren’t scared to get down in the dirt. They weren’t scared when life got hard. They walked with me. They cried with me. They laughed with me. They grieved with me.   I...

Your child’s heaven anniversary is the hardest 24 hours of the year. How are you supposed to get through the day that took your baby?   It can be so hard making it through that day, but I’m here with 6 things that have helped me get through Sam’s heaven anniversary in the past.    I pray that this episode will help give you some ideas on how you can make it through your child’s heaven anniversary too.    Show Notes: Find the show notes...

Are you feeling angry at God? Are you wondering if that’s okay - to feel anger? Are you supposed to have that feeling on this grief journey?  Well I'm here to encourage you today friend. Not only is it okay - God completely understands. I wanted to share my story of how I got angry with God and what He showed me in return (it might surprise you). Plus what you need to do when you are feeling that anger.  I pray this episode encourages you and lets you know that it’s okay to feel angry with...

I see you. You just lost your child and you don’t know how you’re going to make it. There’s only one way - Jesus. But I do have a few ways that I wanted to share with you that helped me make it step by step through the valley and to the other side, where the sun is shining, and I could see a glimmer of joy, of hope, of happiness. Show Notes: Find the show notes by either going here:https://www.unlockingjoy.com/making-it-through-the-early-days-after-losing-your-child/ or by going to my...

We all know the importance of spending time with Jesus, but a lot of times it’s the thing that gets pushed down the list when life gets crazy. I want to challenge us all to make spending daily time with Jesus a priority in our lives. So I bring you some tactical tips on things you can do to make spending time with God happen in your life every day. Find show notes at unlockingjoy.com