While We're Waiting® - Hope After Child Loss
This is a podcast FOR bereaved parents BY bereaved parents. Join your host, Jill Sullivan, as she talks with parents who have lost children of all ages to all types of circumstances. This is a podcast of stories ... stories of devastating loss and grief and heartbreak and struggle ... and stories of hope and healing and faith, and yes, even joy. Underlying every conversation will be the hope we have in Jesus Christ, which makes it possible to not just survive the loss of a child, but to live well while we're waiting to see them again in Heaven one day. Visit our website at www.WhileWereWaiting.org for more information about our nonprofit ministry to bereaved parents.
While We're Waiting® - Hope After Child Loss
191 | Can't Change That (Part One) with Julie Thomas
Julie Thomas is my guest on the podcast today. Julie is married to Marcus and has a degree in secondary education from Baylor University. She has served for over 25 years at Real Options, a pregnancy clinic in Allen, Texas. Her passion is equipping volunteers to talk with women dealing with an unplanned pregnancy. She also produces an outstanding blog, titled “Can’t Change That”, which explores issues that are common to bereaved parents.
In the year 2000, Julie’s son David Michael was stillborn, giving her a unique understanding of the suffering and agony post-abortive moms often feel after the death of their babies.
Then in 2017, Julie experienced another devastating loss when her 16-year-old son Bryan died participating in an activity known as the “Choking Game”. According to a 2018 article in Time Magazine, 82 American children between the ages of 6 and 19 died after playing the Choking Game between the mid-90s and the mid-2000s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most of them were boys between the ages of 11 and 16, according to a 2008 CDC report citing news stories and families’ own accounts.
Julie joins me to share the stories of David and Bryan and I am pleased to give you the opportunity to meet her today!
Links related to this episode:
Julie's Blog - Can't Change That
Hope Dawning
Real Options Pregnancy Crisis Center
ReBuild Grief Support in Richardson, Texas - Email: Rebuild@woodcreekchurch.com
REBUILD Grief Support in Chicago, Illinois
Time Magazine article about the Choking Game
G.A.S.P. - Games Adolescents Shouldn't Play
Books recommended in this episode:
Colors of Goodbye by September Vaudrey
A Grace Disguised by Jerry Sittser
** IMPORTANT** - All views expressed by guests on this podcast are theirs alone, and may not represent the Statement of Faith and Statement of Beliefs of the While We're Waiting ministry.
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Contact Jill by email at: jill@whilewerewaiting.org
