177. Answering Your Questions About God & Faith After Loss with Stephanie Komashin

The Joyful Mourning - A Podcast for Women Who Have Experienced Pregnancy or Infant Loss

This week on the podcast Stephanie Komashin joins me to answer your questions about God and faith, suffering and loss. As someone who has studied theology as a professional career and now teaches at the university level, I am so grateful for the wisdom and insight Stephanie offers us in this interview. We begin our time by Stephanie sharing her story of recurrent pregnancy and baby loss – she speaks to this topic of who is God to us in our suffering as someone who has and is living it.

She is not just a theologian, she is also a mother who has experienced the loss of 9 babies to early miscarriage. Something I find so beautiful about Stephanie’s story is how she has intentionally and beautifully named each of those 9 babies and in our interview she shares their names and meanings – as women who have endured the loss of babies we loved and valued I know you will appreciate this tender act of mothering and honoring her babies in heaven.

After Stephanie shares her personal story of motherhood with us we move into questions that you have likely asked before, questions like: why does suffering exist and what is God’s role in it? What does death exist? What does it mean when people say God will use this for His glory?

Stephanie dives deep into those questions and my hope for you in listening to this interview is not that you will necessarily agree with everything Stephanie shares or even just take her word for it, no my hope for you in this is that you feel the freedom to search out the answers to your biggest questions about God and faith, to search the Scriptures, to research, to ask for wisdom about is true – to really examine the truths you may have always held.

Stephanie points out that there are so many different denominations and different doctrines and different ways of interpreting the Biblical text, it’s ok if you don’t agree with everything shared here in this interview or in other interviews on this podcast, it’s ok if you have still have questions after this interview is over – I want to challenge you with what Stephanie shares at the very end of this episode, to look for answers to your questions, to search the scriptures and to research and she said this:

“Don't just think, man, this worldview I had is shattered. It's broken now. God couldn't be good. Or I don't know if He's good. I'm not sure how He can be good. So I'm just going to have to reject this.

That's not true. It's hard. It might take a while. You might not get all the answers right away. But God is ready to be there with you and help you find resources that you need.”

There is so much helpful content in this episode and in case you want to skip to a specific question that feels especially important to you we included minute timestamps for specific questions we discuss below.

But no matter what question you tune into make sure to listen all the way to the end for Stephanie's favorite resources for learning more about what she’s talking about today and her final word of hope is absolutely so, so beautiful and if you are wrestling with your faith, feeling distant from God or confused by him or any of those other feelings that a lot of us experienced, disappointed, anger, doubt – you don’t want to miss what she shares at the very end. I know it will encourage you and bring you hope today.

QUESTIONS WE DISCUSS IN EPISODE NO. 177 (with approximate timestamps)

1. 1. (35:00) Did you wrestle at all with your belief in God or your faith as a Christian amidst your journey of such tremendous loss and grief?
   2. (40:00) Why does suffering exist? What is God’s role in our suffering? Did He plan it or allow it? What does that mean for me and my baby(s)? Why does God allow us to suffer & not protect us?
   3. (43:33) Why does death exist?
   4. (54) What does it mean when people say, “God will use you or this for His glory”? How could the loss of a child be used for His glory? Couldn’t there be another way?
   5. (56) What does the Bible say about heaven and what does that mean for us as grieving moms who long to see our babies again?
   6. (60) Favorite resources for learning more about what the Bible says about loss, grief and heaven.
   7. (1:06) Hope for a grieving mom navigating difficult faith questions?

FREE DEVOTIONAL

Written specifically for the grieving mom – it is so simple and will offer hope and comfort and truth. From one grieving mom to another, trust me when I say, this mini devotional is worth checking out – and it’s totally free so make sure to go download that here > www.themorning.com/faith

FREE GRIEF GUIDE

Our best and most helpful resources for navigating grief and life after loss all in one place. Plus a list of our favorite books for children about grief and loss. Download Here.

JOIN OUR FREE ONLINE COMMUNITYwww.themorning.com/community

SHOW NOTESwww.themorning.com/blog/episode177

RATE, REVIEW & FOLLOW ON APPLE PODCASTSIf you love The Joyful Mourning Podcast, please consider rating and reviewing the show! This helps moms who are grieving to find us a little easier and get that support they need. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know how this episode helped you.