May 13, 2025 • 28 mins
Charlie and Jill continue their heartfelt conversation about grief and healing after the loss of their son, Beau, 16 years ago. They reflect on how God’s presence, compassion, and comfort carried them through deep pain and near emotional breakdown. This episode encourages listeners to grieve in God’s presence, knowing He is close to the brokenhearted.
Listener Links / Resources
Welcome: www.CharlieandJill.com/welcome
Website: www.CharlieandJill.com
Store: www.CharlieandJIll.com/shop
Book: https://bit.ly/cnj-wlccth
Mailing List: https://bit.ly/cj-mail-list
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Charlie LeBlanc (00:05):
Hi and welcome again to another episode
of Finding Hope. Getting ThroughWhat You Never Asked For.
Jill LeBlanc (00:13):
We appreciate you joining us so much because we
have so much to share to helpheal the brokenhearted and just
to bring awareness to thisjourney that so many people are
on.
Charlie LeBlanc (00:26):
Yeah, we believe that God has helped us,
we know he has, get through themost difficult thing in our life
that we ever experienced andthat we never dreamed would
happen to us. But God in Hisgrace brought us through to a
(00:48):
better place.
Jill LeBlanc (00:49):
Yeah, for sure.
Charlie LeBlanc (00:51):
And 16 years ago, we were in such an awful
place of grief, of pain. We lostour 23 year old son after
standing in faith with him forover nine months to see him live
and to rebuke this cancer, toget him free. But but, you know,
it was a difficult, difficultroad. But now here, years later,
(01:15):
God has brought us into a muchbetter place and we're much
stronger. More importantly, we,as Paul said, comfort others
with the same comfort thatyou've received from the Lord.
So that's our responsibility.That's our mandate now is to
comfort you, to comfort otherswith the same comfort that we
(01:35):
receive from God. That's whatwe're trying to do in this
podcast is help you find hope,help you find comfort in your
journey.
Jill LeBlanc (01:44):
And sixteen years later, it's not like it's gone.
Charlie LeBlanc (01:47):
No.
Jill LeBlanc (01:48):
I mean, we miss him every day.
Charlie LeBlanc (01:50):
Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc (01:50):
And especially at the holidays, that's that's some
of the hardest times.
Charlie LeBlanc (01:57):
Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc (01:57):
Is just having to, you know, him not being there.
It just adds anelement of heaviness.
Charlie LeBlanc (02:05):
It's obvious. There's one chair missing at the
Easter dinner, you know, kindof thing.
Jill LeBlanc (02:10):
And like, you, our daughter is moving house. And so
they had our they had Beau'sdrum set in the room of one of
her sons. And so she asked if hecould come over and pack them up
and just put them away for awhile, because when you're
staging at home, you know,you've got to just get stuff
(02:32):
out.
Charlie LeBlanc (02:32):
Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc (02:33):
He had to put those away once again. And I'm
sure that-
Charlie LeBlanc (02:36):
It was tough.
Jill LeBlanc (02:37):
-stirred some emotion.
Charlie LeBlanc (02:38):
Yeah, it was tough.
Jill LeBlanc (02:39):
So it doesn't go away. But thank God, the Lord
helps us. He sends us help. Andone of the ways he helps us is
just through sending comfortthrough his presence, through
his spirit and through otherpeople.
Charlie LeBlanc (02:57):
Yeah. Yeah. And just knowing that he is a
comforter, that alone justaffirmed us. We talked a lot
about this in the last podcastthat it affirmed us that he
wasn't mad at us. In fact,there's something that the Lord
spoke to me recently.
He said, Charlie, I neverrebuked anyone with a broken
(03:18):
heart. He said, I rebukedhardened hearts. He rebuked his
disciples for hardness of heart.He rebuked the Pharisees for
their hardness of heart. Butnever, never in Scripture that I
can find where someone came toHim humbly, in tears, with a
broken heart, with a brokenlife. Never did He rebuke them.
(03:39):
He always healed their brokenhearts. Always accepted them. He
always embraced them. And eventhe woman that came and knelt
down with expensive perfume andwashed his feet and dried them
with her hair and her tears. Shewas crying with her tears. You
(04:00):
know, even her, they said, gether, you could that perfume for
a lot of money and give it tothe poor. And he said, Hey, the
poor, we always have with you.He said, But this woman right
now, she's preparing for myburial. She knows what she's
doing.
But my point is that she wasbroken and the woman that was
caught in adultery was brokenand everyone wanted to stone
her. But Jesus said, no. He hadcompassion on her. He held her.
(04:27):
He said, Where are youraccusers? I don't accuse you
either. He said, Go and sin nomore. So Jesus heals broken
hearts.
Jill LeBlanc (04:38):
And He proclaimed that when He, after He was
baptized, He said, The Spirit ofthe Lord is upon me to heal the
brokenhearted.
Charlie LeBlanc (04:47):
Right. He was quoting from Isaiah 61, where He
just said-
Jill LeBlanc (04:51):
That's part of his big deal is healing the broken.
Charlie LeBlanc (04:53):
Absolutely. That's his heart. He loves us.
And you know, this scripture inHebrews 4:15, which is one that
we both love so much, says thatwe do not have a high priest who
cannot be touched with thefeelings of our infirmities. I
think that was a big part of myhealing, just to know that Jesus
(05:15):
is touched with my pain. I washurting and I needed his help
and he was there and to knowthat he was touched with our
pain, he's touched with thefeelings of our infirmity.
And another version says, Wedon't have a high priest who
(05:36):
cannot sympathize with ourweakness. He has sympathy in our
weakness. And he knows whenwe're grieving over a loved one,
He understands and He cares andHe wants to come along right
beside us and love us and workwith us and walk with us.
Jill LeBlanc (05:55):
Yeah. Interesting what you said. You said we do
not have a high priest whocannot sympathize. So a double
negative makes a positive, whichis great, because we do have a
high priest who does sympathizewith our weakness, which you
explained in the othertranslation. But He sympathizes
(06:20):
with our weaknesses.
Charlie LeBlanc (06:22):
Yeah, and He is touched. I like that version
He's touched with the feelingsof our infirmities. You've got
to see God in your journey assomeone who is touched with your
pain. He's touched with yourheart. And you know, a lot of
times there's not a quick fix inthings like this.
Jill LeBlanc (06:38):
No.
Charlie LeBlanc (06:39):
And He knows that. So that's why He just
comes alongside, puts His armaround you and walks with you.
There's another scripture thatjumped out of the page for me
out of Isaiah that says, WhenIsrael suffered, he also
suffered. Listen to that one.When Israel suffered, he
suffered. Wow. I mean, just tothink of it, when Israel
(07:03):
suffered, God rebuked him. No,he suffered. He is pain, just
like a father with a child.
When Beau was young and he hithis head, how many times did he
have stitches?
Jill LeBlanc (07:17):
Gosh, can't remember.
Charlie LeBlanc (07:20):
Can't stop counting, but when he bust his
head and the bleeding, you know,we were like holding him,
comforting him, stopping hiswound and stopping him from
bleeding, just like our Fatherdoes for us. When He sees us in
pain, He comes to our rescue, Hecomes to hold us, He comes to
(07:42):
carry us. And you know thatscripture in Isaiah, I'm trying
to find it right now, it's oneof my favorite. Here it is.
Isaiah 63:9, it says, In alltheir suffering, He also
suffered. But then He goes on tosay what we talked about last
podcast. He said, He lifted themup and carried them through all
the years. So He carried us andI know that-
Jill LeBlanc (08:06):
Through all the years...
Charlie LeBlanc (08:08):
Yeah, yeah. All the years.
Yeah, and I know that peopledon't quite get that sometimes,
you know, but when you're thatbroken, you just can't even move
sometimes, and you just needsomeone to help you, I'm
reminded of that foot prints inthe sand story about the person
(08:36):
that was walking along the beachand only saw, you know, he's-
Jill LeBlanc (08:42):
Jesus was walking with him.
Charlie LeBlanc (08:43):
Right, he saw footprints next to him.
Jill LeBlanc (08:44):
He saw two sets.
Charlie LeBlanc (08:46):
Yeah. And then all of a sudden in the difficult
times in that person's life, allof a sudden there was only one
set of footprints and the personcomplains that God, I thought
you said you would be with mealways, you'd never leave me or
never forsake me. You know, andthen the Lord replied and said,
the times when you have seenonly one set of footsteps is
(09:07):
when I carried you. Hallelujah.And I'll be perfectly honest
with you, back in the day whenI'd hear this, before I had the
loss of Beau, I thought, oh,that's cute.
You know, it's a littlereligious. It's kind of little
flowery things that maybe womenlike to think about. Oh, Jesus
carries us, you know, I kind of,in my own heart, it didn't mean
(09:27):
much to me. But boy, you know,when I needed it, and when I
realized that He did, He helpedus, hugged us, He held us, He
carried us through the darkesttimes in our lives.
Jill LeBlanc (09:40):
Yes, He did.
Charlie LeBlanc (09:41):
So this little poem, you know, by Mary
Stevenson back in 1939, it says,and I think she was young when
she wrote it, if I rememberright. And so, yeah.
Jill LeBlanc (09:54):
And if you got to listen to the last episode, at
the end of the episode, weplayed the song God of All
Comfort, which the second versewas taken from that poem. He is
a comfort. He carries us when wecan't carry on.
Charlie LeBlanc (10:14):
Yeah. And you know, he suffers when we suffer.
And I believe he also weeps whenwe weep. That's an
interesting concept. But I wasoutside one day on our patio,
you remember back in Saddlehornin St. Louis, and we have a
(10:36):
little table, round table with around umbrella and some seating
around it. And I just needed, Iwas hurting and I just needed to
get alone. So I went out on thisdeck by myself And I sat there
and started thinking about theLord and started thinking about
Beau, I started hurting on theinside of me. And I remember I
(10:59):
just started breaking down intears, and I just started crying
and crying. And all of a suddenI looked up and there was a
cloud moving in and it startedto rain. It wasn't a torrential
rain, but it was just a light,beautiful, I don't if it was a
spring rain or summer rain orwhatever it was.
(11:19):
But it started raining andthankfully I was under the
umbrella, know, I sat there andof course I had been crying over
Beau. And I felt the Lord spoketo me and said that exact thing
that I said earlier. He said,Charlie, when you weep, I weep.
And of course, the metaphor ofthe rain coming down around me
(11:41):
with that being the tears ofGod. That really spoke to me.
I know it's another littlesuperficial thing, but it
touched me deeply. I felt likethe Lord said, I weep when you
weep. And, you know, I thoughtabout that. And I thought at the
tomb of Lazarus, you know, Jesuswas a friend of Lazarus, and he
(12:09):
was a friend of Mary and Marthawho was Lazarus' sisters. It's
interesting how I have twodaughters and a son who died,
and we tried to raise him. Butnonetheless, Jesus knew he was
going to raise him. But when heapproached the tomb and he saw
(12:30):
Mary and Martha crying. It sayshere, he saw the Jews who had
come along with her, with Mary,I guess it was also weeping.
He was deeply moved in spiritand troubled. And and then it
says, Jesus wept. Now he weptbecause they were weeping. And
(12:56):
and there's a lot oftranslations of this, a lot of
different theologies behind thisthought. But but truly, I like
the amplified.
It says when Jesus saw hersobbing and the Jews who had
come with her also sobbing, hewas deeply moved in spirit.
Listen to this, to the point ofanger at the sorrow caused by
(13:17):
death. And he was troubled.
Jill LeBlanc (13:19):
Wow.
Charlie LeBlanc (13:20):
And then he wept.
Jill LeBlanc (13:22):
Wow.
Charlie LeBlanc (13:23):
Yeah. And so, Jesus was he was hurting, seeing
humanity hurting, angered atwhat the devil had done and
causing death to humanity andseeing people dying around him.
And yet he was deeply moved, itsays in spirit. And He wept.
(13:43):
The next statement, John 11:35,Jesus wept. And He was weeping
with those who were weeping, andweeping over the pain of
suffering. And then the Jewsays, See how he loved them.
Jill LeBlanc (14:00):
We were never designed to be able to handle
death, because God's plan forman, and, you know, for people
that He created, His man andwoman, was to live with Him
forever.
Charlie LeBlanc (14:15):
That's right.
Jill LeBlanc (14:16):
In the garden.
Charlie LeBlanc (14:17):
That's right.
Jill LeBlanc (14:17):
He didn't equip us to be able to handle death.
Right. It's not in there. Youknow, it wasn't supposed to be
that way. Yeah, that's why it'sso It is.
Charlie LeBlanc (14:29):
That's why when a loved one dies, it's like your
brain can't handle it, yourheart can't handle it sometimes,
you don't exactly know what todo, how to process it. It's a
difficult road because like yousay, weren't created for it.
Yeah. Yeah, we were created tolive forever. That little story
of being outside and it rainingand just knowing that he suffers
(14:54):
when we suffer, He weeps when weweep.
And so if you're crying, or ifyou're suffering from the loss
of a loved one, I want you toknow that Jesus is with you and
He is crying with you. He ismourning with you. He is
suffering with you. Suffers whenwe suffer. I think that's very
comforting to know that we'renot alone in our journey, we're
(15:17):
not alone in our pain, that He'swith us.
And I tell people that a lot. Isaid, Listen, go ahead and cry,
go ahead and mourn, but do it inthe arms of Jesus as best you
can. Do it with Him. Don't feellike you have to hide to do Do
it with Him because He loves youso Yeah,
Jill LeBlanc (15:37):
He does.
Charlie LeBlanc (15:38):
Amen. I was actually stumbled upon a
devotional by Andrew Wommack,which we follow Andrew, he's a
good friend of ours, actuallyhim and Jamie. When we lost
Beau, they stood beside us, theycame to us, they helped us
recover. After several months,we took time off from leading
(15:59):
worship for him. And he wasfine.
He said, Take as much time offas you need. So they really,
really loved us. They didn't tryto fix us. And that's another
whole teaching that we'll dolater. We appreciate them.
So I was reading his dailydevotion just last November. And
I was so struck by Andrewsaying, The Lord deeply feels
(16:23):
our hurts. When we hurt, hehurts.
Jill LeBlanc (16:27):
Yeah.
Charlie LeBlanc (16:28):
And when we are blessed, he is blessed.
Jill LeBlanc (16:31):
Yeah.
Charlie LeBlanc (16:31):
You know, and that's the truth. It's like, you
know, when we're in pain, he'sin pain. When we're happy, he's
happy.
And the scripture says, rejoicewith those who rejoice, but weep
with those who weep. And youknow, so the Lord rejoices with
us when we're happy, when we'rehurting or weeping, he weeps
(16:54):
with us. He is our present helpin time of need.
Jill LeBlanc (16:56):
He's so awesome.
Charlie LeBlanc (16:57):
He's our companion, even in pain and
suffering. And he just loves tobe with us through it all.
Jill LeBlanc (17:06):
Yeah, he does. Yeah, I read this last time from
the New Living, but I wanted toread this from the Passion
Translation. It's Isaiah 41:10,it says, Do not yield to fear,
for I am always near. Littlerhyme there. He's always with
us. He's always near. Never turnyour gaze from me, for I am your
(17:31):
faithful God. That's reallyspeaks to my heart because I was
so broken in the very beginningthat I just didn't want anything
to do with fellowshipping withGod because I felt like I like
like Charlie said last time,felt that I had been I was
disappointed.
I felt that I'd been betrayed.And, you know, I don't blame
(17:54):
God. Now I've come, you know,away from that time in my life,
but I ran. I couldn't run veryfar. There was really nowhere
else to go. But the Lord, heencourages us, Never turn your
gaze for me, for I am yourfaithful God. And he is. I was
(18:15):
just being, I was so distraught,I was so broken, I couldn't see
that.
Charlie LeBlanc (18:20):
Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc (18:21):
Because I had turned away from him and I
couldn't see his faithfulness.He says, I will infuse you with
my strength and I will help youin every situation. I will hold
you firmly with my victoriousright hand. So it's a safe place
to be is in his presence, justin fellowship with him, letting
(18:45):
him wash over your soul with hislove and his compassion. And you
can can be safe there.
You don't have to perform. Hewill never throw you away like
we read last time from Isaiah41. I think it was verse nine.
(19:05):
In the NLT, it says, I will notthrow you away.
to him.
Charlie LeBlanc (19:14):
Yes. And you know, there's a scripture and I
want you to share this story,but this scripture has become so
real to us. As you say, he willnot throw us away. Isaiah 42:3,
A bruised reed He will notbreak, and a dimly burning wick
He will not quench.
(19:35):
Jill wrote a song called ABruised Reed years ago, before
we lost Beau.
Jill LeBlanc (19:42):
Twenty years ago.
Charlie LeBlanc (19:42):
And we would like
Jill LeBlanc (19:47):
We'll do it sometime.
Charlie LeBlanc (19:48):
Maybe today. No, maybe some other time.
Jill LeBlanc (19:50):
I don't have time to tell the whole story today,
but I'll get it to you one ofthese times. But I was so broken
and well, it's just a big story.
Charlie LeBlanc (20:04):
It's not that big.
Jill LeBlanc (20:05):
I'll try to not make it big. Okay. When Beau was
with us, and we were allstanding and believing God for
his life speaking the word,someone had made reminder
bracelets for us all, a friendof his. And they put on there
Isaiah 43:2, which is, part ofthat verse is you shall walk
(20:30):
through the fire and not beburned.
And he was given that scripturereal early on in the journey by
someone just trying to encouragehim. And at the time that he
received that scripture andshared with all of us, the
doctors were talking aboutchemotherapy. They you know,
they were just trying to come upwith a game plan because they
(20:53):
were so dumbfounded at thisdisease hitting him so hard and
him being so young. So it wasjust scrambling and a lot of
discussion and just differentthings. They're they were
talking about chemo andradiation, which are like fire,
bomb igniting inside of you.
(21:13):
I mean, it just it's poison. Itburns from the inside out. So
someone sent that passage rightafter all that. And it was just
such wonderful news that thatyou will walk through the fire
not be burned. So anyway, thisbracelet was made and we were
all wearing them.
Charlie LeBlanc (21:33):
I wish I had mine on. Don't have it today.
Normally do.
Jill LeBlanc (21:36):
So we were running out of them and I decided to
order some more and I kind ofrevamped it a little bit, just
looked a little different, acouple different colors and a
little bit different design andput that scripture on there and
got them ordered. And this waslater on in the journey. Anyway,
(21:58):
Beau passes. Middle of Januarycomes, Beau passes away, and it
we broken.
Charlie LeBlanc (22:07):
Torn to pieces.
Jill LeBlanc (22:08):
Yeah. We just were so dumbfounded. Yeah. And then a
couple days later, a boxarrives, and it's on the island
where I'm sitting and and Ididn't recognize where it was
from. So I opened it up and Isaw it. It was a box full of
reminder bracelets. Yeah, I justI just busted into tears. I was
(22:33):
I just could not believe it. Youknow, these we were standing, we
were believing he was going towalk away from this thing. And
so I just start sobbing.
So after I composed myselfseveral minutes later, I decided
to just take one out and look atit and see what it was, you
(22:55):
know, how did it turn out allthis before I threw them away,
I'm like, these are useless. SoI pull it out and I am looking
at it and I notice I had put thewrong scripture reference. And I
busted out into tears again. Imean, I thought I just can't do
(23:17):
anything right. I cannot believeit.
I just completely screwed thisup, blew this chance to do this.
So we're definitely throwingthese things away. And I was
just sobbing, you know, I wasalone and just news, just me and
God. But I didn't sense himthere. So after a while, I
(23:41):
regained my composure once more,and I thought, well, let me look
look up this scripture and seeif it's, you know, it might just
be some random thing like, youknow, don't go lay with your
neighbor's wife.
I didn't know what the passagewas going to be when I when I
looked it up. So I looked it up,and it was this one. It wasn't
(24:04):
Isaiah 43:2. Which is, I youshall walk through the fire not
be burned. I had put Isaiah42:3. Which is a bruised reed he
will not break and a dimlyburning wick he shall not
extinguish.
Charlie LeBlanc (24:24):
Oh my gosh.
Jill LeBlanc (24:25):
And he will bring justice to those who have been
wronged.
Charlie LeBlanc (24:30):
Yes. Wow.
Jill LeBlanc (24:31):
Well, I just started bawling again, because
all of a sudden I am the bruisedreed and the dimly burning wick.
I was the one that was crushed.And we know that the Lord didn't
cause this cancer in our son. Weknow that he was not withholding
(24:56):
healing. There are stillmysteries out there, but he does
see the end from the beginning.
And he knew that I would needthese that passage at this time.
Charlie LeBlanc (25:12):
Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc (25:12):
And, you know, God is just so big and so
incredible.
Charlie LeBlanc (25:19):
Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc (25:19):
So then we kept the bracelets. We still have a
few to this day. It's just apassage that we have drawn a lot
of life from. And especiallythat end part that he will bring
justice to those who have beenwronged.
Charlie LeBlanc (25:37):
Right.
Jill LeBlanc (25:37):
And someone asked me a few months ago, they said,
how do you feel that Beau hasbeen vindicated, that justice
has come? And really, I have tolook at this new season of
ministry that we're in now isthe vindication. We're getting
to help people who are walkingthrough the pain of loss and
(26:01):
giving them hope that you willrecover. The Lord will bring you
through this time.
Charlie LeBlanc (26:11):
Right. And I love that scripture is so
special to, A bruised reed, hewill not break it. The first
part as well as the second part.
Jill LeBlanc (26:19):
Yes.
Charlie LeBlanc (26:19):
But we talk a lot more about all of this in
our book, When Loss Comes Closeto Home, and the subtitle says,
Finding Hope to Carry On WhenDeath Turns Your World Upside
Down.
Joyce Meyer did a forward in it,as well as Andrew Wommack. We
encourage you to get the book.It's on all the at all the
bookstores. It's online.
Jill LeBlanc (26:40):
There's a link below. It's on our website.
Yeah. And you can download it asa digital book, as an audio
book.
All the different ways. And wewould love, if you're not
already on our email list,there's a link below that you
can sign up so that we can stayin better contact with you. And
we have a free download for youif you sign up and it's Nine
(27:04):
Steps to Help the Bereaved andTheir Supporters. So it's a
guide that will just be a helpto you.
Charlie LeBlanc: charlieandjill.com/welcome (27:11):
undefined
Jill LeBlanc (27:15):
That's in the link below.
Charlie LeBlanc (27:16):
Should be in the link below. So yeah, any way
that we can help you, send usyour thoughts and things that
you want us to cover, we'll doour best. Well, we love you and
we appreciate you and we thankyou for joining us today. And we
pray that the comfort of God,the peace of God, the strength
of God would be with you andhelp you get through these
(27:39):
difficult times. Subscribe tothis please, press the little
button, notifications, all thosegood things.
Jill LeBlanc (27:45):
And share it if there's someone on your heart.
Charlie LeBlanc: We want to help you and to help (27:49):
undefined
so many others as well. Alright,well we sure love you. God bless
you. Have a good day. And ifyou're hurting, just know that
we're standing with you.
Alright, God bless. Bye bye.
Hi and welcome again to another episode
of Finding Hope. Getting ThroughWhat You Never Asked For.
Jill LeBlanc (00:13):
We appreciate you joining us so much because we
have so much to share to helpheal the brokenhearted and just
to bring awareness to thisjourney that so many people are
on.
Charlie LeBlanc (00:26):
Yeah, we believe that God has helped us,
we know he has, get through themost difficult thing in our life
that we ever experienced andthat we never dreamed would
happen to us. But God in Hisgrace brought us through to a
(00:48):
better place.
Jill LeBlanc (00:49):
Yeah, for sure.
Charlie LeBlanc (00:51):
And 16 years ago, we were in such an awful
place of grief, of pain. We lostour 23 year old son after
standing in faith with him forover nine months to see him live
and to rebuke this cancer, toget him free. But but, you know,
it was a difficult, difficultroad. But now here, years later,
(01:15):
God has brought us into a muchbetter place and we're much
stronger. More importantly, we,as Paul said, comfort others
with the same comfort thatyou've received from the Lord.
So that's our responsibility.That's our mandate now is to
comfort you, to comfort otherswith the same comfort that we
(01:35):
receive from God. That's whatwe're trying to do in this
podcast is help you find hope,help you find comfort in your
journey.
Jill LeBlanc (01:44):
And sixteen years later, it's not like it's gone.
Charlie LeBlanc (01:47):
No.
Jill LeBlanc (01:48):
I mean, we miss him every day.
Charlie LeBlanc (01:50):
Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc (01:50):
And especially at the holidays, that's that's some
of the hardest times.
Charlie LeBlanc (01:57):
Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc (01:57):
Is just having to, you know, him not being there.
It just adds anelement of heaviness.
Charlie LeBlanc (02:05):
It's obvious. There's one chair missing at the
Easter dinner, you know, kindof thing.
Jill LeBlanc (02:10):
And like, you, our daughter is moving house. And so
they had our they had Beau'sdrum set in the room of one of
her sons. And so she asked if hecould come over and pack them up
and just put them away for awhile, because when you're
staging at home, you know,you've got to just get stuff
(02:32):
out.
Charlie LeBlanc (02:32):
Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc (02:33):
He had to put those away once again. And I'm
sure that-
Charlie LeBlanc (02:36):
It was tough.
Jill LeBlanc (02:37):
-stirred some emotion.
Charlie LeBlanc (02:38):
Yeah, it was tough.
Jill LeBlanc (02:39):
So it doesn't go away. But thank God, the Lord
helps us. He sends us help. Andone of the ways he helps us is
just through sending comfortthrough his presence, through
his spirit and through otherpeople.
Charlie LeBlanc (02:57):
Yeah. Yeah. And just knowing that he is a
comforter, that alone justaffirmed us. We talked a lot
about this in the last podcastthat it affirmed us that he
wasn't mad at us. In fact,there's something that the Lord
spoke to me recently.
He said, Charlie, I neverrebuked anyone with a broken
(03:18):
heart. He said, I rebukedhardened hearts. He rebuked his
disciples for hardness of heart.He rebuked the Pharisees for
their hardness of heart. Butnever, never in Scripture that I
can find where someone came toHim humbly, in tears, with a
broken heart, with a brokenlife. Never did He rebuke them.
(03:39):
He always healed their brokenhearts. Always accepted them. He
always embraced them. And eventhe woman that came and knelt
down with expensive perfume andwashed his feet and dried them
with her hair and her tears. Shewas crying with her tears. You
(04:00):
know, even her, they said, gether, you could that perfume for
a lot of money and give it tothe poor. And he said, Hey, the
poor, we always have with you.He said, But this woman right
now, she's preparing for myburial. She knows what she's
doing.
But my point is that she wasbroken and the woman that was
caught in adultery was brokenand everyone wanted to stone
her. But Jesus said, no. He hadcompassion on her. He held her.
(04:27):
He said, Where are youraccusers? I don't accuse you
either. He said, Go and sin nomore. So Jesus heals broken
hearts.
Jill LeBlanc (04:38):
And He proclaimed that when He, after He was
baptized, He said, The Spirit ofthe Lord is upon me to heal the
brokenhearted.
Charlie LeBlanc (04:47):
Right. He was quoting from Isaiah 61, where He
just said-
Jill LeBlanc (04:51):
That's part of his big deal is healing the broken.
Charlie LeBlanc (04:53):
Absolutely. That's his heart. He loves us.
And you know, this scripture inHebrews 4:15, which is one that
we both love so much, says thatwe do not have a high priest who
cannot be touched with thefeelings of our infirmities. I
think that was a big part of myhealing, just to know that Jesus
(05:15):
is touched with my pain. I washurting and I needed his help
and he was there and to knowthat he was touched with our
pain, he's touched with thefeelings of our infirmity.
And another version says, Wedon't have a high priest who
(05:36):
cannot sympathize with ourweakness. He has sympathy in our
weakness. And he knows whenwe're grieving over a loved one,
He understands and He cares andHe wants to come along right
beside us and love us and workwith us and walk with us.
Jill LeBlanc (05:55):
Yeah. Interesting what you said. You said we do
not have a high priest whocannot sympathize. So a double
negative makes a positive, whichis great, because we do have a
high priest who does sympathizewith our weakness, which you
explained in the othertranslation. But He sympathizes
(06:20):
with our weaknesses.
Charlie LeBlanc (06:22):
Yeah, and He is touched. I like that version
He's touched with the feelingsof our infirmities. You've got
to see God in your journey assomeone who is touched with your
pain. He's touched with yourheart. And you know, a lot of
times there's not a quick fix inthings like this.
Jill LeBlanc (06:38):
No.
Charlie LeBlanc (06:39):
And He knows that. So that's why He just
comes alongside, puts His armaround you and walks with you.
There's another scripture thatjumped out of the page for me
out of Isaiah that says, WhenIsrael suffered, he also
suffered. Listen to that one.When Israel suffered, he
suffered. Wow. I mean, just tothink of it, when Israel
(07:03):
suffered, God rebuked him. No,he suffered. He is pain, just
like a father with a child.
When Beau was young and he hithis head, how many times did he
have stitches?
Jill LeBlanc (07:17):
Gosh, can't remember.
Charlie LeBlanc (07:20):
Can't stop counting, but when he bust his
head and the bleeding, you know,we were like holding him,
comforting him, stopping hiswound and stopping him from
bleeding, just like our Fatherdoes for us. When He sees us in
pain, He comes to our rescue, Hecomes to hold us, He comes to
(07:42):
carry us. And you know thatscripture in Isaiah, I'm trying
to find it right now, it's oneof my favorite. Here it is.
Isaiah 63:9, it says, In alltheir suffering, He also
suffered. But then He goes on tosay what we talked about last
podcast. He said, He lifted themup and carried them through all
the years. So He carried us andI know that-
Jill LeBlanc (08:06):
Through all the years...
Charlie LeBlanc (08:08):
Yeah, yeah. All the years.
Yeah, and I know that peopledon't quite get that sometimes,
you know, but when you're thatbroken, you just can't even move
sometimes, and you just needsomeone to help you, I'm
reminded of that foot prints inthe sand story about the person
(08:36):
that was walking along the beachand only saw, you know, he's-
Jill LeBlanc (08:42):
Jesus was walking with him.
Charlie LeBlanc (08:43):
Right, he saw footprints next to him.
Jill LeBlanc (08:44):
He saw two sets.
Charlie LeBlanc (08:46):
Yeah. And then all of a sudden in the difficult
times in that person's life, allof a sudden there was only one
set of footprints and the personcomplains that God, I thought
you said you would be with mealways, you'd never leave me or
never forsake me. You know, andthen the Lord replied and said,
the times when you have seenonly one set of footsteps is
(09:07):
when I carried you. Hallelujah.And I'll be perfectly honest
with you, back in the day whenI'd hear this, before I had the
loss of Beau, I thought, oh,that's cute.
You know, it's a littlereligious. It's kind of little
flowery things that maybe womenlike to think about. Oh, Jesus
carries us, you know, I kind of,in my own heart, it didn't mean
(09:27):
much to me. But boy, you know,when I needed it, and when I
realized that He did, He helpedus, hugged us, He held us, He
carried us through the darkesttimes in our lives.
Jill LeBlanc (09:40):
Yes, He did.
Charlie LeBlanc (09:41):
So this little poem, you know, by Mary
Stevenson back in 1939, it says,and I think she was young when
she wrote it, if I rememberright. And so, yeah.
Jill LeBlanc (09:54):
And if you got to listen to the last episode, at
the end of the episode, weplayed the song God of All
Comfort, which the second versewas taken from that poem. He is
a comfort. He carries us when wecan't carry on.
Charlie LeBlanc (10:14):
Yeah. And you know, he suffers when we suffer.
And I believe he also weeps whenwe weep. That's an
interesting concept. But I wasoutside one day on our patio,
you remember back in Saddlehornin St. Louis, and we have a
(10:36):
little table, round table with around umbrella and some seating
around it. And I just needed, Iwas hurting and I just needed to
get alone. So I went out on thisdeck by myself And I sat there
and started thinking about theLord and started thinking about
Beau, I started hurting on theinside of me. And I remember I
(10:59):
just started breaking down intears, and I just started crying
and crying. And all of a suddenI looked up and there was a
cloud moving in and it startedto rain. It wasn't a torrential
rain, but it was just a light,beautiful, I don't if it was a
spring rain or summer rain orwhatever it was.
(11:19):
But it started raining andthankfully I was under the
umbrella, know, I sat there andof course I had been crying over
Beau. And I felt the Lord spoketo me and said that exact thing
that I said earlier. He said,Charlie, when you weep, I weep.
And of course, the metaphor ofthe rain coming down around me
(11:41):
with that being the tears ofGod. That really spoke to me.
I know it's another littlesuperficial thing, but it
touched me deeply. I felt likethe Lord said, I weep when you
weep. And, you know, I thoughtabout that. And I thought at the
tomb of Lazarus, you know, Jesuswas a friend of Lazarus, and he
(12:09):
was a friend of Mary and Marthawho was Lazarus' sisters. It's
interesting how I have twodaughters and a son who died,
and we tried to raise him. Butnonetheless, Jesus knew he was
going to raise him. But when heapproached the tomb and he saw
(12:30):
Mary and Martha crying. It sayshere, he saw the Jews who had
come along with her, with Mary,I guess it was also weeping.
He was deeply moved in spiritand troubled. And and then it
says, Jesus wept. Now he weptbecause they were weeping. And
(12:56):
and there's a lot oftranslations of this, a lot of
different theologies behind thisthought. But but truly, I like
the amplified.
It says when Jesus saw hersobbing and the Jews who had
come with her also sobbing, hewas deeply moved in spirit.
Listen to this, to the point ofanger at the sorrow caused by
(13:17):
death. And he was troubled.
Jill LeBlanc (13:19):
Wow.
Charlie LeBlanc (13:20):
And then he wept.
Jill LeBlanc (13:22):
Wow.
Charlie LeBlanc (13:23):
Yeah. And so, Jesus was he was hurting, seeing
humanity hurting, angered atwhat the devil had done and
causing death to humanity andseeing people dying around him.
And yet he was deeply moved, itsays in spirit. And He wept.
(13:43):
The next statement, John 11:35,Jesus wept. And He was weeping
with those who were weeping, andweeping over the pain of
suffering. And then the Jewsays, See how he loved them.
Jill LeBlanc (14:00):
We were never designed to be able to handle
death, because God's plan forman, and, you know, for people
that He created, His man andwoman, was to live with Him
forever.
Charlie LeBlanc (14:15):
That's right.
Jill LeBlanc (14:16):
In the garden.
Charlie LeBlanc (14:17):
That's right.
Jill LeBlanc (14:17):
He didn't equip us to be able to handle death.
Right. It's not in there. Youknow, it wasn't supposed to be
that way. Yeah, that's why it'sso It is.
Charlie LeBlanc (14:29):
That's why when a loved one dies, it's like your
brain can't handle it, yourheart can't handle it sometimes,
you don't exactly know what todo, how to process it. It's a
difficult road because like yousay, weren't created for it.
Yeah. Yeah, we were created tolive forever. That little story
of being outside and it rainingand just knowing that he suffers
(14:54):
when we suffer, He weeps when weweep.
And so if you're crying, or ifyou're suffering from the loss
of a loved one, I want you toknow that Jesus is with you and
He is crying with you. He ismourning with you. He is
suffering with you. Suffers whenwe suffer. I think that's very
comforting to know that we'renot alone in our journey, we're
(15:17):
not alone in our pain, that He'swith us.
And I tell people that a lot. Isaid, Listen, go ahead and cry,
go ahead and mourn, but do it inthe arms of Jesus as best you
can. Do it with Him. Don't feellike you have to hide to do Do
it with Him because He loves youso Yeah,
Jill LeBlanc (15:37):
He does.
Charlie LeBlanc (15:38):
Amen. I was actually stumbled upon a
devotional by Andrew Wommack,which we follow Andrew, he's a
good friend of ours, actuallyhim and Jamie. When we lost
Beau, they stood beside us, theycame to us, they helped us
recover. After several months,we took time off from leading
(15:59):
worship for him. And he wasfine.
He said, Take as much time offas you need. So they really,
really loved us. They didn't tryto fix us. And that's another
whole teaching that we'll dolater. We appreciate them.
So I was reading his dailydevotion just last November. And
I was so struck by Andrewsaying, The Lord deeply feels
(16:23):
our hurts. When we hurt, hehurts.
Jill LeBlanc (16:27):
Yeah.
Charlie LeBlanc (16:28):
And when we are blessed, he is blessed.
Jill LeBlanc (16:31):
Yeah.
Charlie LeBlanc (16:31):
You know, and that's the truth. It's like, you
know, when we're in pain, he'sin pain. When we're happy, he's
happy.
And the scripture says, rejoicewith those who rejoice, but weep
with those who weep. And youknow, so the Lord rejoices with
us when we're happy, when we'rehurting or weeping, he weeps
(16:54):
with us. He is our present helpin time of need.
Jill LeBlanc (16:56):
He's so awesome.
Charlie LeBlanc (16:57):
He's our companion, even in pain and
suffering. And he just loves tobe with us through it all.
Jill LeBlanc (17:06):
Yeah, he does. Yeah, I read this last time from
the New Living, but I wanted toread this from the Passion
Translation. It's Isaiah 41:10,it says, Do not yield to fear,
for I am always near. Littlerhyme there. He's always with
us. He's always near. Never turnyour gaze from me, for I am your
(17:31):
faithful God. That's reallyspeaks to my heart because I was
so broken in the very beginningthat I just didn't want anything
to do with fellowshipping withGod because I felt like I like
like Charlie said last time,felt that I had been I was
disappointed.
I felt that I'd been betrayed.And, you know, I don't blame
(17:54):
God. Now I've come, you know,away from that time in my life,
but I ran. I couldn't run veryfar. There was really nowhere
else to go. But the Lord, heencourages us, Never turn your
gaze for me, for I am yourfaithful God. And he is. I was
(18:15):
just being, I was so distraught,I was so broken, I couldn't see
that.
Charlie LeBlanc (18:20):
Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc (18:21):
Because I had turned away from him and I
couldn't see his faithfulness.He says, I will infuse you with
my strength and I will help youin every situation. I will hold
you firmly with my victoriousright hand. So it's a safe place
to be is in his presence, justin fellowship with him, letting
(18:45):
him wash over your soul with hislove and his compassion. And you
can can be safe there.
You don't have to perform. Hewill never throw you away like
we read last time from Isaiah41. I think it was verse nine.
(19:05):
In the NLT, it says, I will notthrow you away.
to him.
Charlie LeBlanc (19:14):
Yes. And you know, there's a scripture and I
want you to share this story,but this scripture has become so
real to us. As you say, he willnot throw us away. Isaiah 42:3,
A bruised reed He will notbreak, and a dimly burning wick
He will not quench.
(19:35):
Jill wrote a song called ABruised Reed years ago, before
we lost Beau.
Jill LeBlanc (19:42):
Twenty years ago.
Charlie LeBlanc (19:42):
And we would like
Jill LeBlanc (19:47):
We'll do it sometime.
Charlie LeBlanc (19:48):
Maybe today. No, maybe some other time.
Jill LeBlanc (19:50):
I don't have time to tell the whole story today,
but I'll get it to you one ofthese times. But I was so broken
and well, it's just a big story.
Charlie LeBlanc (20:04):
It's not that big.
Jill LeBlanc (20:05):
I'll try to not make it big. Okay. When Beau was
with us, and we were allstanding and believing God for
his life speaking the word,someone had made reminder
bracelets for us all, a friendof his. And they put on there
Isaiah 43:2, which is, part ofthat verse is you shall walk
(20:30):
through the fire and not beburned.
And he was given that scripturereal early on in the journey by
someone just trying to encouragehim. And at the time that he
received that scripture andshared with all of us, the
doctors were talking aboutchemotherapy. They you know,
they were just trying to come upwith a game plan because they
(20:53):
were so dumbfounded at thisdisease hitting him so hard and
him being so young. So it wasjust scrambling and a lot of
discussion and just differentthings. They're they were
talking about chemo andradiation, which are like fire,
bomb igniting inside of you.
(21:13):
I mean, it just it's poison. Itburns from the inside out. So
someone sent that passage rightafter all that. And it was just
such wonderful news that thatyou will walk through the fire
not be burned. So anyway, thisbracelet was made and we were
all wearing them.
Charlie LeBlanc (21:33):
I wish I had mine on. Don't have it today.
Normally do.
Jill LeBlanc (21:36):
So we were running out of them and I decided to
order some more and I kind ofrevamped it a little bit, just
looked a little different, acouple different colors and a
little bit different design andput that scripture on there and
got them ordered. And this waslater on in the journey. Anyway,
(21:58):
Beau passes. Middle of Januarycomes, Beau passes away, and it
we broken.
Charlie LeBlanc (22:07):
Torn to pieces.
Jill LeBlanc (22:08):
Yeah. We just were so dumbfounded. Yeah. And then a
couple days later, a boxarrives, and it's on the island
where I'm sitting and and Ididn't recognize where it was
from. So I opened it up and Isaw it. It was a box full of
reminder bracelets. Yeah, I justI just busted into tears. I was
(22:33):
I just could not believe it. Youknow, these we were standing, we
were believing he was going towalk away from this thing. And
so I just start sobbing.
So after I composed myselfseveral minutes later, I decided
to just take one out and look atit and see what it was, you
(22:55):
know, how did it turn out allthis before I threw them away,
I'm like, these are useless. SoI pull it out and I am looking
at it and I notice I had put thewrong scripture reference. And I
busted out into tears again. Imean, I thought I just can't do
(23:17):
anything right. I cannot believeit.
I just completely screwed thisup, blew this chance to do this.
So we're definitely throwingthese things away. And I was
just sobbing, you know, I wasalone and just news, just me and
God. But I didn't sense himthere. So after a while, I
(23:41):
regained my composure once more,and I thought, well, let me look
look up this scripture and seeif it's, you know, it might just
be some random thing like, youknow, don't go lay with your
neighbor's wife.
I didn't know what the passagewas going to be when I when I
looked it up. So I looked it up,and it was this one. It wasn't
(24:04):
Isaiah 43:2. Which is, I youshall walk through the fire not
be burned. I had put Isaiah42:3. Which is a bruised reed he
will not break and a dimlyburning wick he shall not
extinguish.
Charlie LeBlanc (24:24):
Oh my gosh.
Jill LeBlanc (24:25):
And he will bring justice to those who have been
wronged.
Charlie LeBlanc (24:30):
Yes. Wow.
Jill LeBlanc (24:31):
Well, I just started bawling again, because
all of a sudden I am the bruisedreed and the dimly burning wick.
I was the one that was crushed.And we know that the Lord didn't
cause this cancer in our son. Weknow that he was not withholding
(24:56):
healing. There are stillmysteries out there, but he does
see the end from the beginning.
And he knew that I would needthese that passage at this time.
Charlie LeBlanc (25:12):
Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc (25:12):
And, you know, God is just so big and so
incredible.
Charlie LeBlanc (25:19):
Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc (25:19):
So then we kept the bracelets. We still have a
few to this day. It's just apassage that we have drawn a lot
of life from. And especiallythat end part that he will bring
justice to those who have beenwronged.
Charlie LeBlanc (25:37):
Right.
Jill LeBlanc (25:37):
And someone asked me a few months ago, they said,
how do you feel that Beau hasbeen vindicated, that justice
has come? And really, I have tolook at this new season of
ministry that we're in now isthe vindication. We're getting
to help people who are walkingthrough the pain of loss and
(26:01):
giving them hope that you willrecover. The Lord will bring you
through this time.
Charlie LeBlanc (26:11):
Right. And I love that scripture is so
special to, A bruised reed, hewill not break it. The first
part as well as the second part.
Jill LeBlanc (26:19):
Yes.
Charlie LeBlanc (26:19):
But we talk a lot more about all of this in
our book, When Loss Comes Closeto Home, and the subtitle says,
Finding Hope to Carry On WhenDeath Turns Your World Upside
Down.
Joyce Meyer did a forward in it,as well as Andrew Wommack. We
encourage you to get the book.It's on all the at all the
bookstores. It's online.
Jill LeBlanc (26:40):
There's a link below. It's on our website.
Yeah. And you can download it asa digital book, as an audio
book.
All the different ways. And wewould love, if you're not
already on our email list,there's a link below that you
can sign up so that we can stayin better contact with you. And
we have a free download for youif you sign up and it's Nine
(27:04):
Steps to Help the Bereaved andTheir Supporters. So it's a
guide that will just be a helpto you.
Charlie LeBlanc: charlieandjill.com/welcome (27:11):
undefined
Jill LeBlanc (27:15):
That's in the link below.
Charlie LeBlanc (27:16):
Should be in the link below. So yeah, any way
that we can help you, send usyour thoughts and things that
you want us to cover, we'll doour best. Well, we love you and
we appreciate you and we thankyou for joining us today. And we
pray that the comfort of God,the peace of God, the strength
of God would be with you andhelp you get through these
(27:39):
difficult times. Subscribe tothis please, press the little
button, notifications, all thosegood things.
Jill LeBlanc (27:45):
And share it if there's someone on your heart.
Charlie LeBlanc: We want to help you and to help (27:49):
undefined
so many others as well. Alright,well we sure love you. God bless
you. Have a good day. And ifyou're hurting, just know that
we're standing with you.
Alright, God bless. Bye bye.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.