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What do you do when the bottom drops out and life breaks in ways you never imagined? Charlie and Jill LeBlanc have walked that road, and through their personal story of loss, they’ve discovered the sustaining power of God's presence. In this podcast, they offer heartfelt conversations, Scripture-based encouragement, and the kind of hope that only comes from experience. Whether you're grieving, struggling, or searching for peace in the middle of chaos, this space is for you.
This is the Finding Hope Podcast. We're so glad you've joined us today. We're Charlie and Jill LeBlanc, and we are here to encourage you in your walk with the Lord. We all face hardship, don't we?
Charlie LeBlanc:Yes, we do.
Jill LeBlanc:And, you know, our our big story is that we faced the loss of our son back in 2009, and the Lord has walked with us and carried us through this time. And now we've been able to help others with the same comfort that the Lord has given us. But today, we're going to actually have our very first podcast guest Yes. Where we bring someone in to, share their story with you. And it's a different story. It's not the loss of a loved one. But like we've said so many times, loss comes in many forms, not just the death of someone you love, but in it can come in the loss of a marriage, the loss
Jacque DeShetler:That's right.
Jill LeBlanc:of, well, relationship, the loss of a dream, the loss of a career, just all kinds of loss. Yes. So our guest today, who is our good friend, Jacque DeShetler that we have been friends with for a long time.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah, long time.
Jill LeBlanc:She has wonderful things to share with you about how the Lord has brought her through the many things that she never asked for.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah. Jacque is an amazing friend and an amazing person.
Jill LeBlanc:She is.
Charlie LeBlanc:She's got a long history of being in music ministry. She's a great guitar player, incredible singer. She leads worship. She led worship for Joyce Meyer for several years. She also led worship at a church in St. Louis, many other churches. She's been a pastor, she's been a life coach. She's just done a lot of things in her life.
Jill LeBlanc:And is her still doing.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah, and still, exactly. Yeah, no doubt. And so, yeah, we've been very close friends with them. Him and her husband, Steve DeShetler, beautiful couple. And we have so much fun getting with them. But yeah, she was in town visiting and we said, let's do a podcast. So we recorded this in advance. And, yeah. And so she's she's also an author.
Jill LeBlanc:Yes. She has her new book here.
Charlie LeBlanc:Absolutely.
Jill LeBlanc:And it's this beautiful book called Blooms of Grace. And it each it's a devotional. And each day's story is a life lesson that she learned from the Lord as he walked her through all the different seasons of her life. And it's beautiful in that, not only is it beautifully designed, but it talks about a story. It gives you some points to, you know, just work through in your life. And it gives you a coloring page that I know a lot of people a lot of women especially enjoy that. And then a journal page to reflect on on the lesson that she just taught. It's called Blooms of Grace. You can get it on Amazon. I believe you can also go to her website.
Charlie LeBlanc:I don't know.
Jill LeBlanc:I'm not sure about that but definitely Amazon, Blooms of Grace by Jacque DeShetler. Jacque is j a c q u e. DeShetler is d e s h e t l e r. Jacque DeShetler.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc:And, we we know that this will be a blessing to you, especially if you're one of these that likes to color as you meditate on the word of God.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah. Her being a life coach, she said that that's one of the things that they learned and teach is just how doing something like that can really help you to sink in a message or seek in something, a devotion with the Lord that you're having. But we're going to jump right into this, interview. Actually, I think at the beginning of this interview, I asked her to share with us, a little bit of possibly some of the things she has in her book. She does cover a couple of, stories.
Charlie LeBlanc:And so, we just pray that this really ministers to you. Like Jill said, it's a little different. It's not the loss of a child or a loved one, but she's just had an amazing life and worked through a lot of hardship and learned a lot of the same lessons we learned. You know, Jill, you mentioned at the beginning of this, I remember when we lost Beau and the pain of that. I remember one of the first things I thought about was people who had been through divorces and people who had been through losses like that, that it was so similar to the pain. I mean, I've never been through a divorce, I don't know, but I could just about imagine that kind of loss, the dream of your marriage twenty years.
Jill LeBlanc:It's awful.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah, in fact, we just read recently, I read a devotion that said, I lost my husband after twenty years and yet no one brought me casseroles to my door.
Jill LeBlanc:Oh, through a divorce?
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah, through a divorce. Sorry. Forgive me. Yeah, through a divorce. No one brought casseroles, no one, you know, called me to see how I was doing, no one wept with me.
Jill LeBlanc:Mhmm.
Charlie LeBlanc:But I felt the same loss that people that lose their husband to death lost, because it was a death. It was the death of her dream. So anyway, we're gonna go right into it. We only have a few more minutes, and then at the end we'll just close with another little quick, howdy and bye.
Charlie LeBlanc:So God bless you. Enjoy the interview.
Charlie LeBlanc:We've known Jacque for years. We go way, way back, and it's just an honor to have her with us today, and she's learned so much, so many life lessons. So, Jackie, tell us some of the life lessons you've learned in light of your devotional, in light of all the hard times you've been through, the ups and the downs, the difficulties.
Charlie LeBlanc:You know, we think, okay, I'm through this, life is gonna be good now, and then bam, something else gets us, you know, and we don't expect it. And as as many of you know, the name of our podcast is Finding Hope but getting through what you never asked for and so so many of us been hit with difficulty in our life that we didn't obviously ask for or even dream or even ever dare expected would to us. So this devotional you put out, you said you shared life lessons or just little things. Can you think of one?
Jacque DeShetler:Oh, I've got so many, but the one that I'm thinking of right now is funny because I talk about this particular life lesson a lot. Proverbs says that to the hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet. So meaning that and the meaning of that is when when you're hungry for something, let's say you're a lonely person.
Charlie LeBlanc:Mhmm.
Jacque DeShetler:And I'm, in particular, I wasn't gonna share this. I don't know. It just came up right now. I thought, okay. I'm gonna go ahead and talk about it.
Jacque DeShetler:But just kind of talking to people that are single, like, and want to be married. You know how that you know how many people there are? Oh, so many. And and even, you know, as you get older, if you have not gotten married, you've you still have that hunger and that desire if you haven't worked with it. But I can just tell you a story, and this is where this life lesson came from was my own life was after the first marriage.
Charlie LeBlanc:Mhmm.
Jacque DeShetler:And just being, I don't know, you know, a very young Christian, I met somebody and we were had a relationship and it was and he was a fiery Christian. Fiery Christian. And I remember that you know, this is brief, but I remember that our relationship became very troubled. Very troubled. You know, and it had the blessing of the church. All pastors were like, oh, yeah. You two belong together.
Charlie LeBlanc:Right. Right.
Jacque DeShetler:It's great. It goes to show you that you just don't know what you just don't know. Right?
Charlie LeBlanc:Mhmm.
Jacque DeShetler:Life lesson number one. You just don't know what you just don't know.
Charlie LeBlanc:That's right. And just don't and don't always listen to everybody around you. You gotta listen to what's inside of your heart.
Jacque DeShetler:Right. And so we were having some major problems and they were kind of reminiscent of what I'd gone through in my first marriage. And I remember talking to the Lord that night, you know, after some phone call mess going on, and I woke up the next morning, and the Lord said to me, he said, you're marrying your first husband.
Charlie LeBlanc:Oh my goodness.
Jacque DeShetler:And I sat there on the edge of the bed and I was like going, I'm marrying my first husband. So I decided to write things out, you know?
Charlie LeBlanc:Wow.
Jacque DeShetler:And he showed me down the line that I was I was being attracted back to the first to those things
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah.
Jacque DeShetler:that were very, that nearly destroyed me. And and it was a very important lesson for me. And as well, there was another man that I was dating for a while because this is all single, you know, you're looking, you're you want love, you want wanna be together with somebody. You know, you it's like your heart's desire. Want a life with somebody.
Charlie LeBlanc:Right.
Jacque DeShetler:And this relation this particular relationship was going through some crazy, crazy stuff. And where he was actually starting to see somebody else while he was seeing me that had been an ex, blah blah blah. Y'all know what I'm talking about. And so he, one night, just told me that he was he was gonna marry her, but he still wanted to see me.
Jill LeBlanc:Oh gosh.
Jacque DeShetler:We're Christians. I'm like, no. I don't think so. But what the Lord what the Lord showed me through that, and this is really how my heart healed from that because I was very much I very much thought I was in love with him. And I was devastated coming out of this. And y'all were around at that time. We were all in each other's life. I'm going through all this stuff.
Charlie LeBlanc:Didn't know it.
Jacque DeShetler:And the Lord spoke to me again, the parable of the fig tree. And out of Mark the eleventh chapter, when Jesus cursed the to fig the roots, of course, you were all like, what a weird thing for Jesus to do. You know, the creator of the universe just went by a fig tree and cursed it, and why? And of course, you know, the fig, when it's in season, has leaves. And, of course, when it shows its leaves, there's fruit on the fig tree. Right? That's what we all know.
Jacque DeShetler:And so Jesus saw that everybody was hungry. Jesus was hungry. The disciples were hungry. They went to the fig tree. Jesus saw it and went to the fig tree, saw that there was absolutely no fruit on the fig tree and cursed it from its roots.
Jacque DeShetler:And what the Lord showed me through that was that I was hungry. And remember what I said in Proverbs, To the hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet. I was hungry and I went to this relationship, But this relationship was not fruitful, but I was still drawn to it. But this relationship could not give me what it was that I wanted in my heart of hearts. And then he wanted to continue the relationship. How bizarre is that?
Jill LeBlanc:Gosh.
Jacque DeShetler:Very bizarre. And I know so many of you, my brothers and sisters, y'all end up in troubled relationships. I know how that is. And sometimes you just need somebody to say, hey, you're not discerning that this relationship that you are being drawn toward is not bearing fruit. And therefore, you're letting yourself be you know, filled with pain. And so that night, you know, I I really prayed over that. And I had to come to think of it. I just remember that night, pulled out some paints, I was thinking about all these things. I had some real pretty music going, and I'm thinking about what the Lord was teaching me and I'm like going, wow. Only you can heal my heart after this relationship. But just the realization that I was being drawn to something I had to know.
Charlie LeBlanc:Wow. Mhmm.
Jacque DeShetler:I had to know in my heart that it was wrong for me.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah.
Jacque DeShetler:Without that revelation and without that scripture, I would have not seen. Without Jesus cursing that, you know, that fruitless tree.
Charlie LeBlanc:Mhmm.
Jacque DeShetler:And you'll never grow fruit again. And that that was my prayer. Lord, do not allow me to be involved with things that are not fruitful. And that was so important in my life.
Jill LeBlanc:Oh, That's powerful. Wow.
Charlie LeBlanc:When we first read that scripture, I was like, what? Where is that going?
Jacque DeShetler:Yeah. Where is that going?
Charlie LeBlanc:It is that makes good sense. But you know, something that you said that is reminding me that unfortunately, broken people, they seem to be attracted to broken people.
Jacque DeShetler:Yes.
Charlie LeBlanc:And they feel comfortable in that, but it's the worst thing for them. It looks like you say, like the scriptures, it looks good, it looks tasteful, it looks like it's gonna be helpful and healthy, but it ends up being more poison in their life. And we've seen many dear people that have been attracted to the wrong person for the wrong reasons even, and it ends up really, even sometimes years later, just being a bigger mess than ever. But thank God for his grace to to give you that warning and that word and pull you out of that. That's an incredible story.
Jacque DeShetler:And twice he did that with me and I was so, so grateful. So things like that are in my That's a bloom. I call them blooms. They're each one is like just this little nugget of something unbelievably rich that he did for me so that I could get over the brokenness of that place. But of course, you know, oh, yeah. But you know, there's those places of brokenness that are the things that are so so deep that are hard to ever recover from.
Charlie LeBlanc:Mhmm.
Jacque DeShetler:The death of your son. And I went through a lot of death in my family, particularly I'm thinking of one instance when I was pregnant with my son. Just towards the end of my pregnancy, my mom came down with a rare disease like boom. Boom. She had a disease that's called TTP and it just knocked her out. So for for sixteen years, we dealt with this disease that would have her Wow. Just I mean, it it would knock her out for periods of time. She lost her quality of life intensely.
Jacque DeShetler:It was it was a lot of hardship. I was pastor. I was a pastor at Life at that time with our worship team and doing a lot of wonderful things in ministry and and helping take care of my mom at the same time. I remember the grieving that went on even while she was alive because I would sit at her bedside with her and hold her hand and there were other times when I would tell her before something, a surgery, or she went through so many surgeries treatments, and I would just be like, Mom, I just give you permission, know, if you want to I'd say things like that to her, you know. My mom, she was, at that point in her life, she didn't even know what to say to me, you know, And the prayers were intense, lots of praying. I had a lot of people praying for her.
Charlie LeBlanc:Mhmm.
Jacque DeShetler:My whole church family was praying for her and for me.
Jacque DeShetler:They were also my church family, which was so important to me, were helping me with my 15 month old daughter, you know, at at the same time. So I've had a 15 month old, I'm just about to give birth to this little boy and my mom's in a coma, you know, on and off. And so after so many years of this praying and all of these things in and out of the hospitals, I just didn't know what to do anymore, you know? I mean, so many people are in a situation with somebody who's terminal and you just don't know when this terminal ends. Well, the Lord was so good to me. Her doctor came into the room one day and looked at me and she said, When was the last time you saw somebody, a doctor?
Jacque DeShetler:I said to her, because I'm like, ohhh. And she basically said, Why don't you make an appointment with me? And I didn't do it. Well, you know, she had her one of her assistants, I don't know, medical assistants call me on the phone and get me into her office while my mom was going through this horrible thing. Long drawn out thing. She called me and took she looked at everything, talked to me about everything, and she really wanted to help me. She wanted to put me on an antidepressant. And at that time, I know this is very candid, and at that time, I really felt like I should not do that.
Charlie LeBlanc:Mhmm.
Jacque DeShetler:And so I started researching and doing some different things, and I thought, you know, I think I'm gonna I think I'm gonna get involved in something that's actually physically helping for my mom and people like her. So I signed up to do the leukemia lymphoma marathon.
Jill LeBlanc:Wow.
Jacque DeShetler:And And I began to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Foundation and trained for a marathon. And I always said this and I didn't really and this is funny because I didn't really understand what this was until recently, what my response to that situation that had gone on for so long. But I always used to say, I'm putting feet to my prayers. That's all I could say. People were like, why are you running a marathon? Why are you doing this?
Jacque DeShetler:I'm putting feet to my prayers for my mom. I have to do something to be able to do something for her. And so what I call this now, I look at this and I go, that's embodied prayer. So you know how we as Christians sometimes we worship the Lord and we lift our hands? That's embodied worship. That's worship in our bodies. You know, a lot of these places you see these amazing dancers, they'll dance to worship. That's embodied worship, embodied prayer. And so I realized that through that season and all of the training that I did, my focus was, Lord, heal my mom. Just heal her or do or do something, you know, do something, help her. And I raised money for them, ran that marathon.
Charlie LeBlanc:Mhmm.
Jacque DeShetler:And, you know she was around for a little while but not that long. During that, and I know that sounds it sounds so down, but it's the way life is. People, you know, we come and then go. We go to the we go to be with Jesus.
Charlie LeBlanc:Right.
Jacque DeShetler:But during that time, the Lord taught me how to use my body in prayer. And not only did it help me in in the prayers for my mom, but I also overcame depression.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc:Praise God.
Jacque DeShetler:Yes. I overcame depression at that time, and it it's all very physical, you know, and the Lord should, the Lord's smart. Yeah. He's really smart.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah.
Jacque DeShetler:He knows our bodies. He knows what our bodies need at certain times of our lives.
Charlie LeBlanc:That's good.
Jacque DeShetler:So that embodied prayer of putting feet to my prayers for my mom really, really helped me raise money for something. You know, she never understood that. My mom never understood why I did it.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah.
Jacque DeShetler:You know, she was like, you're running a marathon? Yeah. Why are you doing that? 26.2 miles. Like, yep, yep, mom, I just ran 20 miles in the snow, mom.
Charlie LeBlanc:There you go.
Jacque DeShetler:You did what? Why in the world would you ever do that?
Charlie LeBlanc:Well, that was great. You put some purpose. You were in the middle of difficulty and the middle of pain and you found a way to express it, and to make some purpose in it, and helped you mentally, helped you physically, helped you get through it, you know.
Jacque DeShetler:It really did.
Charlie LeBlanc:And shortly after we lost Bo, we were invited to help start up music school at Andrew Woeaumack Ministries. And we were hesitant, but then we said, no, we really need to do this. So within six months, we were starting to fly back and forth from Colorado doing this, and we were amongst a lot of young men and young ladies we were teaching music and worship. And it was similar in we put some, we were hurting from the loss of our son and we were confused and disorientated, but going there and sowing into these young and sharing about worship and about God's love helped us in a lot of ways. Now, it was hard because mentally our soul was still so broken and we were still crying a lot, but we look back on it and we go, you know, there were so many good things that helped us because we weren't even, we didn't want to get out of bed, were so depressed and slowed down the loss, but this helped us get out of bed, it helped us have purpose, helped us to do something for someone else.
Charlie LeBlanc:And I think that's helpful is to, like you did, you just decided I'm gonna do something. And it may not have seemed like the perfect thing, but it was for you. It was the perfect thing for you to run that and obviously physical work when we're under stress is so healthy for us
Jacque DeShetler:Yes, it is.
Charlie LeBlanc:to just get out there. In fact, I heard someone say he was so depressed and he called his life coach and he said, You need to help me. I don't know what to do. And he said, When's the last time you got out and ran? He goes, What? He goes, No, I'm looking for counsel. I'm looking for counsel right now. And he says, Put the phone down and go out and run. And while he was running, everything started opening up, his mind started opening up, his heart started opening up, he started seeing things better, clearer, the depression was leaving him and you know, he found a way out of his stress and his depression by even doing a physical activity like you said.
Jacque DeShetler:It's interesting, isn't it? It's all about hormones I guess.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah, all of our body functions work together.
Jacque DeShetler:Right. That a real blessing for me to be able to hear the Lord's voice and have that opportunity.
Charlie LeBlanc:But Jacque, you've done so many amazing things in your life. We've talked about it earlier in this one with the recording of the Integrity Hosanna Tape and working with Joyce Meyer and doing many CDs with her and and working at the Dream Center down in town in Saint Louis leading worship for that and helping people. You've done a lot of things with Mercy Ministry. You've helped girls, other girls, encouraging them. Because I think one of the things that we have to always be aware of is there's so many broken people in the world.
Charlie LeBlanc:You know, we don't really sometimes in our little Christian bubbles, you know, we just think, praise God. Everybody's doing great. But no, they're broken people and they're broken people in the pews around us.
Jill LeBlanc:Yes.
Charlie LeBlanc:There are people hurting.
Charlie LeBlanc:I know from our standpoint, not just from your standpoint, just broken from broken families, broken hearts, drug abuse, broken marriages, whatever it might be. From our standpoint, we also see people who have had major losses and their hearts are broken from just having experienced that and they're hiding in the pews, they're afraid to share that they're hurting. And what can you say into that, that just being able to be honest and transparent about some of the pain that you're going through and how much that can help you to expose that and to find a safe friend to share with.
Jacque DeShetler:Right, and I think that's the key. We've talked about this before quite a bit, is finding that safe place with safe people. Sometimes it may not be your church. Sometimes you may need to find a coach. Sometimes you may need to find a great therapist.
Charlie LeBlanc:That's right.
Jacque DeShetler:Sometimes you may need, you know, just a great friend. But you need to know who those people are and not expose yourself to the people that are gonna try to rip off the scab off your wound by accusing you or or saying, well, what did you what did you do to cause this situation in your life? Right. I mean, I know people who have changed their entire life because of a statement like that and went into a place of deep wounding. That's the last thing we need from other Christian people. We need people that are safe and will point us to Jesus, but will point us in a compassionate way. I can't even imagine that the woman with the issue of blood who who sought out Jesus that day, And I I don't know. You guys have watched The Chosen and
Charlie LeBlanc:Mhmm. Yeah.
Jacque DeShetler:We're good. Okay. So I particularly remember
Jacque DeShetler:that, um...
Jill LeBlanc:Episode.
Jacque DeShetler:Episode. Thank you. That episode. And I remember seeing her, and that show just has given me such great visuals and and emotional ways to see Jesus bigger, richer, deeper and understand that his compassion for us is greater than anything we could possibly imagine. She just said, if I could just touch the hem of his garment. All her life and her savings have been spent on doctors who could not help her, that were just practicing medicine, which is what it is right now. She was healed and virtue went out of him into this woman. We, as people, need to find those safe people that can help us to continually reach for to reach out to Jesus.
Jacque DeShetler:Help us pray through, talk through, laugh through, cry through, remember with, look at pictures with.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yes.
Jacque DeShetler:Do all you know, watch the movies with and allow us to do that and love us through it.
Charlie LeBlanc:Amen. Well, Jacque, this is awesome. Thank you so much for being on the podcast with us. But I want you, if you don't mind, to pray for our audience and just, you know, just minister to them for a minute. We just have about a minute left or so. Just share with them, okay?
Jacque DeShetler:Yes.
Charlie LeBlanc:God bless you.
Jacque DeShetler:Lord, you are Emmanuel. God with us. And though we don't see you right now, we know that you are with us. Father, make yourself real to each person today that's watching this and needs it and is listening to this and needs you and needs a touch from you deep in their heart. I pray for a path for healing for each person that you bring a great hope into each person's life today. And I thank you, Holy Spirit, for being with us. Thank you. For hearing our voices as we cry out to you. And I praise you in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, thanks again, Jacque, for being with us. What a joy. We could do on and on. Could keep going. So prayerfully you'll have your own podcast soon and just be able to preach away personally.
Jacque DeShetler:I don't know about that. Thank you, guys.
Charlie LeBlanc:Thanks again for joining and yeah, thank you, Jacque, and thanks for joining the podcast and we love you. Give us a thumbs up and send us comments, whatever you need. Don't forget, jacquedeshetler.com. Go there, we'll put that in the notes. God bless you.
Jill LeBlanc:Boy, that was so great, wasn't it?
Charlie LeBlanc:Yes, it was.
Jill LeBlanc:I tell you, it just goes to show you that no matter what you are walking through, the Lord is faithful and he will bring you through it. He's just so amazing, so merciful, so kind.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yes.
Jill LeBlanc:Wow.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah. God has continued to use Jacque, as we mentioned before, to this day. Great worship leader. She's got a lot of great music
Jill LeBlanc:Yes. She does.
Charlie LeBlanc:on her website. Lots of work with Integrity Hosanna and Life Church.
Jill LeBlanc:And things she's done on her own. Just beautiful, sweet songs of worship.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc:And so JacqueDeShetler.com. Right? It's her website.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah. I'm pretty sure.
Jill LeBlanc:And
Charlie LeBlanc:It's bound to be.
Jill LeBlanc:That's the name of the j a c q u e. DeShetler is d e s h e t l e r. JacqueDeShetler.com
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc:You can find her music there. And I'm I'm not positive, but her beautiful book, Blooms of Grace, which is really a sweet book. It's I'm not sure you can find it there, but it's definitely on Amazon.
Charlie LeBlanc:Well, I'm sure can find a link to it on her website.
Jill LeBlanc:Little picture of her on the back with her beautiful red curly hair.
Charlie LeBlanc:Oh, she's such a blessing.
Jill LeBlanc:Yeah. So thank you so much for, joining us today, and we just believe God is surrounding you with his grace, his help, his mercy, his love, and his favor. And we just pray that, you will be able to sense his presence all around you as you walk through this.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah. Leave us some comments about this because this is a different type of podcast than we've had in the past. And, we wanna hear your comments and and how you liked it and how it ministered to you as well. Okay?
Jill LeBlanc:Amen.
Charlie LeBlanc:So like it, thumbs up, and
Jill LeBlanc:Share it around.
Charlie LeBlanc:God bless. Thanks so much.