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
277 | A Dad's Journey to Hope (Part Two) with Terry Sternad
In the second half of my conversation with grieving dad Terry Sternad, we see what grief—and faith—can look like more than forty years after the death of a child. Terry’s six-year-old son, TJ, went to heaven in 1983, and while the ache of missing him has never gone away, Terry has discovered that joy and sorrow can coexist through a deep, abiding relationship with God.
In this episode, Terry reflects on how grief has shaped his walk with God and how it has grown into a ministry of comfort for others through GriefShare. He shares candidly about how people and churches often struggle to support the bereaved, why those who are grieving sometimes have to take the first step in reaching out, and how helping others has become one of the greatest sources of healing in his own life.
We talk about:
- What’s changed—and what hasn’t—in how our culture handles grief
- How the church can better come alongside those who are hurting
- The lifelong evolution of a father’s grief and faith
- How serving others brings purpose and peace
- The powerful truth that “time doesn’t heal; time with God heals”
- The freedom Terry found in finally releasing guilt and embracing his identity in Christ
Terry’s story is a portrait of what it looks like to keep growing, serving, and trusting God decades after loss. His honest reflections remind every grieving parent that while the pain remains, God’s presence endures—and He can transform even our deepest sorrow into hope that lasts.
Click HERE for more information about the GriefShare ministry, and to find a group in your area!
** 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
