In last week’s episode, we met Marty and Missie Durapau and heard about the loss of Missie’s 14-year-old son, Mason, after a golf cart accident on Easter Sunday in 2024. We also heard about the week they spent praying and believing God for a miracle ... and what it meant to keep trusting Him when that miracle didn’t come in the way they had hoped. If you missed the first half of our conversation, you can find it HERE.

Today, we’ll talk more about Mason’s decision to be an organ donor and the five lives that were saved through his gift. That part of his story has brought Missie tremendous comfort and purpose, but it has also brought some unexpected heartbreak that has caused her to wrestle with God in a whole new way.

We’ll also talk about why the second year of grief has been especially difficult, navigating birthdays and holidays, and the ways Marty and Missie are using their own experiences to come alongside others who are hurting.

Through all of it, they are learning that still trusting God doesn’t mean having all the answers. It means continuing to turn toward Him with the questions, the confusion, and the pain—and trusting that He is still faithful.

Link to the Our Hearts Are Home fall conference information HERE!

I would love to hear your thoughts on the show. Click here to send me a message! ~Jill

** 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.

We'd love for you to connect with us here at While We're Waiting!

Click HERE to visit our website and learn about our free While We're Waiting Weekends for bereaved parents

Click HERE to learn more about our network of While We're Waiting support groups all across the country.

Click HERE to subscribe to our YouTube channel

Click HERE to follow our public Facebook page

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Click HERE to make a tax-deductible donation to the While We're Waiting ministry

Contact Jill by email at: jill@whilewerewaiting.org

My guests on the podcast today are Marty and Missie Durapau, and if I had to describe the thread that runs through their story, it would be this: Still Trusting God.

Marty had already experienced devastating loss when his wife of 34 years, Angie, died suddenly in 2020. Missie had walked through difficult seasons of her own before she came to know the Lord as an adult. They married in 2023, blending their families and beginning a new chapter.

Then, just over a year later, Missie’s 14-year-old son, Mason, suffered a devastating brain injury after a golf cart accident on Easter Sunday. For the next week, Marty and Missie worshiped and prayed and believed God for a miraculous healing. But Mason’s ultimate healing occurred when he went to Heaven on April 7, 2024.

In this first half of our conversation, we’ll hear how God brought Marty and Missie together, get to know Mason—a funny, tenderhearted boy who loved Jesus and loved his mama—and talk honestly about trusting God when He doesn’t answer our prayers the way we hoped.

This is a story of heartbreak, questions, faith, and still trusting God. I believe you’ll be blessed by listening in.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the show. Click here to send me a message! ~Jill

** 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.

We'd love for you to connect with us here at While We're Waiting!

Click HERE to visit our website and learn about our free While We're Waiting Weekends for bereaved parents

Click HERE to learn more about our network of While We're Waiting support groups all across the country.

Click HERE to subscribe to our YouTube channel

Click HERE to follow our public Facebook page

Click HERE to follow us on Instagram

Click HERE to follow us on Twitter

Click HERE to make a tax-deductible donation to the While We're Waiting ministry

Contact Jill by email at: jill@whilewerewaiting.org

Sherry Bullock’s 19-year-old daughter, Emma, was fun-loving, easygoing, and known for leaving “a trail of Emma” wherever she went.

On February 6, 2021, Emma was killed in a devastating accident on a Florida interstate. In our conversation, Sherry shares honestly about the shock of sudden loss, the silence that followed, and the questions she wrestled with about heaven, God’s sovereignty, and where God was when Emma died.

She also explains the meaning behind the title of her book, The Mess We Leave Behind: Unshakable Hope in Unspeakable Loss. What began as the physical mess Emma left behind became a picture of the emotional and spiritual aftermath of her death—and a reminder that Emma had lived, loved, and mattered.

Sherry talks about what grieving parents need most, why grief cannot be separated from love, and how she came to see grief as holy ground. She also shares a powerful image of hope as the rope God lowers into the pit for us to hold onto. As Sherry says, “Hope is everything.”

This is an honest conversation about child loss, faith, and the presence of God in the midst of the mess.

Sherry’s book, The Mess We Leave Behind: Unshakable Hope in Unspeakable Loss, is available in paperback and Kindle editions on Amazon. Click HERE to get your copy.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the show. Click here to send me a message! ~Jill

** 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.

We'd love for you to connect with us here at While We're Waiting!

Click HERE to visit our website and learn about our free While We're Waiting Weekends for bereaved parents

Click HERE to learn more about our network of While We're Waiting support groups all across the country.

Click HERE to subscribe to our YouTube channel

Click HERE to follow our public Facebook page

Click HERE to follow us on Instagram

Click HERE to follow us on Twitter

Click HERE to make a tax-deductible donation to the While We're Waiting ministry

Contact Jill by email at: jill@whilewerewaiting.org