Finish Strong With Fearless Faith

From Grief to Gratitude with Ronn Read #54

May 16, 2022 Fearless Faith Season 2 Episode 54
Finish Strong With Fearless Faith
From Grief to Gratitude with Ronn Read #54
Finish Strong With Fearless Faith +
Become a supporter of the show!
Starting at $3/month
Support
Show Notes Transcript

Someone compared grief to walking along a peaceful beach on a sunny day when suddenly out of nowhere you are hit by a tsunami.  You never know when, where or why grief hits.  But everyone who has experienced it knows the feeling.

Ronn Read is the National Field Staff Chaplain for Man in the Mirror ministry.  He lost his wife of almost 49 years in October of 2021 and knows how difficult and, at times, debilitating grief can be.  He offers great advice and personal insight into how it is possible to move forward  with life and ministry even while  dealing with grief.  He demonstrates the power of the Bible to bring hope and healing to everyone who walks “through the valley of the shadow of death.”

Since everyone will deal with grief at some point, this is a “must listen to” episode of Finish Strong.

Website
ffaith.org

To leave a review - Open Finish Strong on the Apple Podcast app and scroll down until you see "Ratings & Reviews". There will be a link to click so that you can "Write A Review"

Facebook
YouTube
Instagram

Support the show

Fearless Faith Website
ffaith.org

To leave a review - Open Finish Strong on the Apple Podcast app and scroll down until you see "Ratings & Reviews". There will be a link to click so that you can "Write A Review"

Facebook
YouTube
Instagram

Ronn Read:

He knows that he knows that I'm going through this this law still. But all he does is he just shows up every once awhile with a, a hamburger or a pizza, and he just sits here. He is truly Job's comforter. He doesn't say a word, and that pizza goes

Terry Steen:

a long way. Just show

Dan Wheeler:

up and bring food.

John Matarazzo:

Live your life with purpose, change someone's life for the better, and leave a lasting impact on those around you. Welcome to finish strong, the podcast designed to help you discover your unique purpose and develop a plan to leave a powerful legacy. Dan, Bryan and Terry are ready. So let's get started.

Dan Wheeler:

Maybe you've experienced the loss of someone you love very dearly. If so you know how overwhelming grief is and how difficult it is to walk through this journey to the other side. I've I've traveled it with my late wife Beth as she battled stage four cancer and passed into heaven six and a half years ago. But I faced it again recently because just six months ago, my sister Janie read passed unexpectedly from a stroke. Maybe you're walking that journey right now or you know someone who is we're all going to face it at some point in our life. And in this edition of finish strong. We want to offer you hope and encouragement. Terry and Brian are here today. And then we've got a very special guest I'm going to introduce but guys, Terry and Brian. I mean grief hits everybody sooner or later.

Terry Steen:

It surely does. It surely does. And I've been fortunate enough to not have anyone in my immediate family pass away. But we grieve for different things. I will never forget how hard I cried when my mother passed a number of years ago, that cold February day in Iowa. I just I don't know if I cried more ever before or after, but it was overwhelming.

Brian Roland:

Yeah. And when my dad passed the house right after I graduated, just a month after two months after, and it was quick. It was so quick because he was he had been strong. But it came it happened fast and something that we had to deal with at the time. And and we did and we all face it. And it was just something that we really depended on the Lord and Holy Spirit to get us through.

Dan Wheeler:

Well, I mentioned my sister passed away just six months ago and we are honored to have Reverend Ron Reed who was actually married to my sister for 48 years. And he's not only my brother in law, he's a great friend and he's someone I admire so much. Ron grew up in Kansas. He attended John Brown University on a baseball scholarship. Tara, you remember John Brown? We had a fight break out and

Terry Steen:

yeah, we got to play him. They killed us. But we did get

Dan Wheeler:

like beat us pretty bad. He later went to Kansas State he accepted Christ through Campus Crusade ministries. He also played and coached baseball at Liberty University where he received his master of divinity degree. By the way, guys, I told him to send me a brief bio and this is it brief.

Terry Steen:

Oh, my goodness. Okay. We're just about out of time.

Dan Wheeler:

But he went on to start a church in Quincy, Illinois, where he married Beth and I, he performed the ceremony. He received his doctorate and family and marriage counseling While there he went on to pasture in Milwaukee, Tacoma, Washington, Lake Zurich. And he and my sister got married in 1973. They had five children and get this seven grandchildren. Oh

Terry Steen:

my god. Wow. Ron,

Dan Wheeler:

you've left quite a legacy. Thanks so much for being with us. I know, just six months ago, but I know you and I know you'll get through this. Yeah,

Ronn Read:

yeah. Yeah, exactly. Six months ago, yesterday is when Jamie had the stroke. Wow.

Dan Wheeler:

Walk us through that week, Ron, because it happens. So really suddenly and unexpectedly? Yeah,

Ronn Read:

that you were you told me you were gonna ask that. I thought Well, sure. I can get through that. So like I came home from I do a lot of speaking with man in the mirror. I'm on the road. Just about every weekend, about 40 weekends of the year, I'm speaking and I had been gone. I came home to Janie not doing well. And your other sister Margie was here, giving her some insulin trying to work with her. We called the ambulance that ended up in an emergency room the next morning, and then she had the stroke on Tuesday morning, six months ago. And so we they they took her by ambulance up to or down to Jacksonville to a Baptist Hospital and we knew that we thought she was gonna have surgery to relieve the pressure. And we knew as soon as I walked in that that was not going to be the case. They said she was too far gone. The stroke had damaged far too much of her brain. There was nothing they could do. And so we they kinda prepared us that she wasn't going to survive. But we had hope. You know, we kept praying all my all of my kids were able to come in and spend some time with her. And we had a week before she passed, she was actually gone. About the third day she was she was just not there anymore. But you know, you always hoped for that, that last word, and she was able to actually write, we couldn't read most of what she was writing. It was just scribbles. She knew what she was writing, apparently. But we tried to follow along and try to figure out what she had written. And we did figure it out. One thing she she very clearly wrote a URL that you know, she wants ale and beer. And the nurse of a senator said, I think the word right before that is ginger, and see what a ginger ale. Well, she couldn't have that. But, but then the you know, you hope for the last words out of the out of your spouse especially would be I love you, thank you for 48 years. Her last words were asked when I can have coffee, or coffee. Through those things, even though we knew she wasn't gonna make it, we were able to laugh and laugh with her and just have such joy, even in the midst of the sorrow, sure to know that where she was going to know she was with Jesus and stuff. It was a hard week, I gotta tell you that. There was one time I gotta, I gotta say this. You always hear people say I felt your prayers. I gotta be honest. I've never felt anybody's prayers. I never felt that. But there was one. It was actually the first night it was Tuesday night. She'd had the stroke in the in the morning, and I'm kneeling down by her bed, and I'm holding her hand and I'm the kind of guy then you know that you throw something at me. Alright, we can fix this. We can get through this. And but I was I was kneeling down there. And I just said, God, I can't do this. I don't know what to do. And it was literally like, the middle of my back, pushed me up. And I know that was the prayers of all the people who were just supporting us. Push it, it was very clear. We

Dan Wheeler:

got this we got Amen. Amazing at

Ronn Read:

that point, what it was going to end up being we got, but God gave grace. And we said farewell to her on October the 19th. And of this past year, and it's been six months, it seems like forever ago, and it seems like it was yesterday.

Dan Wheeler:

Yeah, I'm gonna just back up and let you recoup just a little bit. You mentioned man in the mirror. And I wanted to mention that you are now the National Field chaplain for men in the mirror, and you've held other titles with it. And how long have you been with man in the mirror?

Ronn Read:

Exactly. 10 years, Valentine's Day was my 10th anniversary of them. I had pastored for 35 years and then been with them for 10. I started out as the Chicagoland area director. That was what I was hired as and worked with churches there. It's what we do, we we work with churches to help them build a more effective ministry to men, as men, right? We come in and we say we want to kill your Men's Ministry. Because ministry is usually just the pancake breakfast once a month. And we want to kill that because that's only in 15 to 20% of your men. We want to build a ministry to every man in your church, identify who they are, where, what chair they sit in, in other words, what type of man are they? And then how do you reach them. So that that was my role in Chicagoland. Then I became the regional director, and there were only two of us. So I had everything that bordered the Mississippi River, and West,

Dan Wheeler:

okay, we're gonna tell people how they can support you and your work, because I know you raise your support near the end of the program. But let's go back, you know, I, you were there with me and walked me through when when Beth passed, and I wouldn't have made it without you. And who would have thought that six years later, I'd be trying to minister to you, our whole family and that you'd be walking that journey. That's how life is just so unexpected.

Ronn Read:

I gotta tell you, it was a lot easier walking with you through Beth than it was I know.

Dan Wheeler:

And you've done so many funerals, but it's a whole different ballgame when it's your spouse, isn't it?

Ronn Read:

Yeah, it certainly is. You know, you're you. You're losing your soulmate. And actually, the Oh, that's a misnomer. I didn't lose her. I know right where she's at, right? Just not here with me. So yeah, it's a win win. You've been married 48 years. It's, you know, she was my life. And

Dan Wheeler:

you know, we talked about all you got 17 grandchildren and five kids. And I remember I talked to you about what I went through that not only are you suffering, but when you see your kids and grandkids suffering that just rips your heart out.

Ronn Read:

That's the hardest part. Yeah, when when Terry and Brian were both talking about their their parents dying. It's I think sometimes it's harder on me to realize that my kids have lost their mom.

Terry Steen:

Yeah.

Dan Wheeler:

Yeah. And your grandkids last year.

Ronn Read:

I have not cried for probably two weeks.

Terry Steen:

That sorry,

Ronn Read:

is going strong right now.

Dan Wheeler:

But you know, what's the definition of grief? It means you love someone so deeply and, and I got to ask you, before Brian terrier gonna jump in? Have you been angry at God? Were you ever angry at God?

Ronn Read:

You know, my granddaughter, one of my granddaughters? I have 10 of them. Well, one of my granddaughters said, Do you resent God for taking me mom? And I said, Well, God didn't take me my death took me Mom death takes everybody said, you know, God, God actually was there through that death, to give me support and to give me hope. So no, I don't resent. And I asked her, do you? And she goes, Yes, I lost my mi Ma. And I said, Well, let's, let's talk about that. And we did. We ended up having a good talk and a good cry, and a good prayer time. But, you know, I know, to be honest, you know, the five stages of grief and one of them is anger. I never experienced any anger. Of anything. I think the only thing I really experienced was anger, some anger at myself. Should I have picked up on signs? Should I have seen that she wasn't doing well? Should I have called the ambulance sooner? So I went through a little bit of that, but nothing, no anger at God, no anger. Yeah, I think that's largely Dan, because my mantra for years has been, my rest is in the sovereignty of God, God's God, nothing comes to me that doesn't come through his hands first, and know His sovereignty. And again, here's the key, knowing that sovereignty gives me the strength, the hope, the peace. You know, when when Paul talks about the peace that passes understanding, it only comes about when you know, God is sovereign, and that sovereignty is a good thing. When we say he's in control, that's not bad. That's a good thing. To know that he's got this. And he had me every every minute of that whole process.

Brian Roland:

Run. You see, he's talked about that. Then asked if you are angry at God, have you gone through any other stages of grief? I know there's like they say five stages. Have you gone through any of those are in a sequential order?

Ronn Read:

Well, you know, denial is the first one and I'm on about the 7000 rounds of denial, I still, I still pick up my phone to call Janie, when something happens, I still take a picture that I want to send to her. There was a manatee down at our dock today. And I wanted to just tell her, Hey, we finally saw the manatee. And, you know, just that denial is still there that I still believe. You know, that's the hardest part. She's not coming back. So I have that denial. The next stage is anger. And and then there's also bargaining. Well, there was no bargaining on my account. What was I going to bargain? Even when that week that she was in the hospital i i kind of accepted from the second day on? She's not going to come back. She's not going to make it. We we believed and we hoped, but I think all of us deep down knew. So there was no bargaining. Then the next one, I could never name number four. You guys know number four, the fourth stage of grief.

Dan Wheeler:

I went through them all. I can't remember them all. Yeah, I could,

Ronn Read:

even as I would tell people about the five stages of grief. I know the last one is acceptance. But the fourth one is depression. And I went through that with depression of weep. I'm weeping now but of weeping or sorrow or the blues. My depression was lack of motivation. I just couldn't get up from my chair. I sat right here for days on end. My kids would call me Oh, how you doing daddy? And they'd see what you're seeing right now. They'd FaceTime me. And they'd say, are you my one son? Are you sitting in your chair? Yeah. Are you watching Fox News again? Yeah. He would get so upset with me that you'll get up and do something. Yeah. And literally guys, I could hear the chair next to him is where Janie always said. And finally there came a day where I heard her voice They get up and do something. Now Dan would tell you, that's Mary Jane's voice all the time. Something Yeah. And that, that changed it, it did become my thing. I can't just sit here and go through depression. And again, my depression was lack of motivation. I just didn't want to do anything.

Terry Steen:

But let me ask you, Ron, that, you know, they say that grief has a purpose. And anyone who's going through it, it may be someone who just if it brings them closer to God, or if they begin to read their Bible more, or pray for other things. And so grief has a purpose that, do you feel like you've sensed anything that resembles a purpose? Or an important lesson that you might have picked up at this point?

Ronn Read:

Yeah, the number one thing. Second Corinthians one says, Blessed is the God of all comfort, who comforts us in any trouble that we're going through any tribulation. And then there's this henna phrase, so that and that. So here's what we're going through so that we can comfort others with the same comfort we received from God. And actually down in verse nine, he says, so that we no longer rely on ourselves but on God. And that that phrase that so that has become, it's become my again, my mantra over the last several months is to know this happens so that this will happen. Jesus Prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. As we celebrate, reflect on Easter, his garden of Gethsemane prayer has several times where he says, I pray this so that they will learn this. So yeah, the question I have I have I seen a purpose in this right now? I am, I am on the phone with six widows, all six of them. Their husbands have died since Janie died. All six of them were members of my first church in Quincy, Illinois. And they they're going through this grieving one of them. You know, discipled her husband, he became a pastor. He went to liberty and became a pastor. So she's lost not just her husband, she lost her pastor. And because they lived in the parsonage, she's losing her house. So and another one going through struggles with her son, upset with her and literally disowning her because they didn't get a COVID shot and, you know, his dad died and it's your fault. And, you know, just the, the grief that these ladies and I also got about about 10 widowers that all of a sudden out of the woodwork. You know, I, I don't know that I ever would have had a ministry with widows and widowers because I did not. Dan will tell you I've sympathized with him. When Beth died, I went through that with him. But I did not know the journey. Now I know it. And God is just opening up all sorts of avenues all sorts of paths for me to be ministering man in the mirror has actually asked me to write a new seminar we talked about the five types of Men and The Last Man is the hurting man. They want me to write a seminar for the hurting man. Yeah, the guy that needs that. Yeah.

Terry Steen:

That helped. May be that may be one of the strongest points we could get across to our listeners today is that has tough is grief is it does have a purpose. And sometimes we just have to look for it. Yeah.

Ronn Read:

Sometimes we have to look for it. Sometimes it slaps us like a two before. Right? You know that? You know, hey, here's a guy you

Dan Wheeler:

talk to Ron, you mentioned some scriptures. And after Beth passed, scriptures took on new meanings to me, like, you know, Psalm 3418, God is near to the brokenhearted. I felt when I got through my depression. And when I was able to get out of bed and start doing things, it took me quite a while. I felt his presence and, and also Isaiah 57 One, which a lot of people don't realize is even in the Bible, but it says the righteous perish and no one ponders in his heart that devout men are sometimes taken away. And no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. So we don't know what God could have been sparing Jamie from Are there any other verses that have really meant a lot to you?

Ronn Read:

Yeah, there's there's a passage of scripture in Psalm that I've preached on numerous times and all of a sudden, it takes on a whole new meaning. It's Psalm 77. And in the that Psalm, the Psalm has, starts out talking about, you know, I used to go to the temple, I used to be here to worship you. And now my soul cries out in my distress, I cry out, and I have penciled in the margin. Why only then why is that the only time that I cry out to God in my distress but certainly in our distress, we cry out, just got and he he's literally saying, God, where are you? And then he goes into these series of six questions in Psalm 77, that I always say, I guarantee every man has asked these six questions in the dark night of the soul, God, have you forgotten to be merciful? Will your mercies never have they ceased forever? Will you never return a human, there's just that you can hear the depth of grief in that man's voice of where are you? But then he does something guys, and this is critical. He starts remembering all the times God was there for him. He reflects back on the miracles that you're the God of miracles, and he just shares that you'll literally he goes to his journal, and says, look at where you've been, look at what you've done. Look at the prayers you've answered. And he says, so my hope is in you. And that's that Psalm has just become even more precious to me than ever

Brian Roland:

run with with the man in the mirror. How is your loss affected how you minister to men now?

Ronn Read:

They ministered to me recently, you know, through through the grief. Several of my guys showed up at Janie's memorial service, you know, they came from all over the country. The waterworks are gonna go again. Then they they did something that we have our annual reunion, and they gave me this plaque that's gonna go down on Janie's bench down on our dock. I do my doc talk every Wednesday, and they gave this awesome plaque. And you know, they, I think they did that because they just wanted to see me cry, but and they succeeded. But now hear the five months, six months later, I have ministered to so many of our guys, not just over death, but just over grief loss of something. And God is definitely using that. And not just our men my Chaplain role. But you know, as I speak, every time I'm doing a seminar I have, there will be three or four or five guys who they've lost their spouse. Maybe it was this year, maybe it was five years ago. 10 years doesn't matter, that that box of life and then in the middle is that ball, that is grief. And on the side of that box is the pain button. The box gets bigger because life goes on. But that grief ball just keeps hitting that pain button and the strangest weirdest ways, most unusual places. And you're like now, the Greek button got punched right through this whole thing. But yeah,

Dan Wheeler:

right. Six and a half years later, I can be in a grocery store and I'll hear a song reminds me of Beth and I'll just have to leave the store it. I've heard this description of grief. And I think it really nails it. It's like you're walking around along this very peaceful beach, the waters very calm and Hawaii. And all of a sudden a tsunami hits and just knocks you over knocks you overnight. And that's how it is. And I'm gonna let our producer know, John, we're probably going to go a little long. On this one. There's so many good things, but we're working there. Ron, I've talked to people since because since Janie died I've had so many people write me that are dealing with grief and lost a spouse and they've I've heard from people as I said they lost them 510 15 Even 20 years ago and they still can't move on. And I tell them, your spouse wants you to move on. You know, someone, a counselor told me Beth is in heaven now cheering you on? Her race is over. We've got a run, what would you say to someone who's listening now? Who says I'm just stuck? I don't feel like I'll ever be productive again or do anything for the Lord again.

Ronn Read:

Well, Paul wrote to Timothy, when you know in Timothy's struggle was, you know, he was he was battling a church, you know, church issues in Second Timothy. And so I'm very thankful that Paul didn't compare his suffering to Timothy's. He didn't say you call that suffering? No, instead, he just simply said, Timothy, endure hardship with us heal that with us was we're going through it too. So Endure hardship. And that the word endure is interesting in that it's, it's literally translated, you know, he talks about wrestling, and this endurance says that you're going to stand firm in the faith. That's the critical part of it stand firm in the faith. But then he talks about hardship and it's anything from the word is translated anything from discomfort, the I don't, I don't feel good to tribulation. So that's a pretty wide range of that hardship, uses three illustrations, and the first one is the soldier. Don't get distracted. Go back to your training. Go back to the you know what, what got you here and what's your purpose for being here? Yeah, you're dodging the bullets in the bombs, but you endure and don't get distracted. Focus on what's the goal, then he talks about the athlete, you know, and it's hard to compare athletes today suffering for $30 million a year. But he talks about obey the rules don't Don't, don't get sidelined, because you gave in to the temptation of an easy way out. And I see a lot of people going through grief that they want to, you know, I want to get out of it, I just want to feel good again. And it's, I think of CS Lewis said, if you want to just feel good, get a bottle of whiskey, and um, you know, just he downplayed the feeling good. No, I want to do the right thing. And the athlete wants to win the prize. The farmer has just that determination, things that you have a farmer's life, and he has very little control over the weather over the bugs over all the different things, they're gonna hit him. And that's what grief is I don't have control over death and loss. But what do I do to endure that? Well, I have to have that determination, that dependence on God stick with this. So all three of them, Paul didn't really unpack them. He just said, You got to look at these and understand your training, your mentoring, your coaching, all come into play, to fulfill the goal of why you got into this in the first place.

Dan Wheeler:

We've just got a few minutes left and and I know Terry and Brian each have one more question, and then we'll wrap it up. And I want you to tell people how they can help with your ministry in man in the mirror. Terry, did you have another question? Yeah,

Terry Steen:

yeah. Rana, you know, culture kind of tells us to Don't let this lasts too long and move on with grief. But that's because everyone around is kind of uncomfortable. Because they don't are friends and people they don't know what to do and what to say. Right? What could you say to those people? How do you? How did you maybe interact? Or what would you have to say to people that are uncomfortable around those going through grief?

Ronn Read:

Well, the main thing is what you said, don't expect them to get over this, you know, don't expect them to wait, hey, it's been six months, haven't you moved on? Right? I was maybe in 48 years, I will have moved on. Right, right. 40 years, I will definitely have moved. But you know, don't expect somebody just get over it. You never get over it. You don't really even get through it. You just keep plotting in the journey of grief, you're always on the journey now of that, that loss. It is important for the person who wants to comfort or wants to, and just doesn't know what to say. Don't say anything. You don't need to say anything. Just be there. Just show. My My Best Supporter is a guy who, you know, he, he knows that I'm grieving. He knows that I'm going through this this loss still. But all he does is he just shows up every once awhile with a hamburger or pizza. And he just sits here he is truly Job's comforter. It doesn't say a word. And that

Terry Steen:

pizza goes a long way I tell you

Dan Wheeler:

in my book about Beth hurricane of love, I say that just show up and bring food bring. They won't care. And they won't remember what you say. But they'll remember you were there.

Brian Roland:

Exactly. And Ron, you probably already answered this with the pizza. But I was gonna ask you, what has helped you most on your journey of grief?

Ronn Read:

It truly is that the people who just so I'm known in my pastorates. And now man in the mirror for telling a story of the college sociology class that did a man on the street survey. They just simply ask the question, how you doing? And the number one answer given is fine. I'm doing good. And that's my answer. When people say how you doing? My standard answers. I'm doing okay. But there are some people who will ask the second question, how you really do it? And yeah, even there. The college sociology class, the number one answer given was, I'm tired. I'm busy. But my answer when they asked me how you really doing, you know, for the most part, I am doing okay. But the sociology class asks the third question, how you're really doing? And the number one answer given was, how much time do you have? Because now you've gone from being polite to genuinely caring. And I've got, again, a couple of people who say, Okay, this is my third question, how you really do it?

Terry Steen:

Yeah, you

Ronn Read:

know, they don't let me blow smoke. They want to know, how are you really doing? What can I do to get you through today? And that's, that's what really counts is just having that person who says how you really do

Dan Wheeler:

it. Well, Brian, you do such a great work with me. Then the mayor and I've supported you over the years. And I want to encourage others to do that. Can you tell them how they can get involved with your ministry?

Ronn Read:

It's very, very simple. If they'd like to support it's www dot man in the mirror.org. Backslash Ron Reed. And the Ron Reed has aro n n r e ad is the Irish version of reads. And so, yeah, it's that simple. That puts you on a page where you can read about the ministry, you can see what I'm doing. And if you'd like to support and like if you'd like to know more, just email me Ron reed@gmail.com. I'd love to share with anybody what we're doing what we as a ministry do, and what I do as the national field staff chaplain, but also, as the national faculty, teaching seminars all across the nation. I'm going to be in Alaska in May, and I'm going to be in South Carolina in two weeks and you're literally just doing as many seminars as possible.

Dan Wheeler:

Okay, once again, it's www dot man in the mirror.org. Backslash Ron with two ends. Ron read, as in read a book, Aro N N. R E. A. D. Ron, thank you so much. I know this was tough, but you did a great job. Yeah,

Ronn Read:

thank you guys.

Dan Wheeler:

And I hope to see you soon because Ron is my brother in law, and we're good friends, and I try to get up there where he is in Georgia, whenever I can, and he's got to get down here soon. Guys. We need to finish strong. And sometimes that is working through grief. Any final thoughts?

Brian Roland:

My final thought would be Psalms 147 Three where it says he heals the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit,

Terry Steen:

Terry, and I would leave this final scripture for anyone who's dealing with it. And that's John 1622 that says, Therefore you now have sorrow. But I'll see you again and your heart will rejoice and your joy. No more will be taken from you. There's always a bigger picture if we can keep that perspective. I love

Dan Wheeler:

it. And here's what we have to look forward to. Here's where my sister Mary Jane is and Beth is up there in heaven. And in Revelation 21 four it says He will wipe away every tear from their eyes there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. But the old order of things has passed away.

Terry Steen:

Amen. If you're going through it,

Dan Wheeler:

reach out to those friends who will just be there with you. And turn to God. He's close to the brokenhearted thanks for joining us for this edition of finish strong God bless. And we'll see you next time.

John Matarazzo:

Thank you for listening to finish strong. For more information about finish strong and fearless faith. Check out their website F faith.org. Make sure that you rate and review this podcast to help more people accomplish their God given purpose so that together we can finish strong