Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
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.
Hi there. Thank you so much for joining us again today. This is Charlie and I'm Jill. And, we have a podcast called Finding Hope, Getting Through What You Never Asked For. We're going to be talking a lot about that today.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yep. We always do. We try to bring hope encouragement to you because everybody goes through stuff. I think there's no one in this natural world that doesn't face difficulty.
Jill LeBlanc:It's for sure. Jesus said that.
Charlie LeBlanc:Exactly. In this world, you shall have tribulation. It reminds me of Andrew, and I think I shared this last time, but in his forward in our book, he said, if you haven't Charlie, do you have been through some tough times? If you haven't been, he said, basically, he said, it's part of living in a fallen world. So no matter it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when and how we And deal with it's true.
Charlie LeBlanc:I hate to say that. I know he didn't like saying it either, but we hate to prophesy or or say that we're gonna be going through trouble. But like you said, Jesus told us that. Right?
Jill LeBlanc:He did. He said, will have tribulation, but
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc:Be of good cheer because he has overcome the world. And that's why we have tribulation is because we're living in a fallen world. But thank God as we hide ourselves in him, he will protect us. He will help us get through what we're what we've never asked for
Charlie LeBlanc:Right.
Jill LeBlanc:And and carry us when we need to be carried and heal us when we need to be healed. So he's so faithful.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yes. He is. It it reminds me of of Rick Warren when he they lost their son, him and his wife, pastors of a great church in California. And it reminds me of him when he came back finally into the pulpit to preach.
Jill LeBlanc:Mhmm.
Charlie LeBlanc:And he preached a message on getting through what you're going through.
Jill LeBlanc:Yeah.
Charlie LeBlanc:Getting through what you're going through, which I thought was pretty- It was a phenomenal message.
Jill LeBlanc:Yes, it was.
Charlie LeBlanc:But yeah, we all face trials, difficulties, and scripture talks about it so much. In fact, you know, I was reading this morning even where in second Corinthians where Paul says, but we do not want you to be ignorant brethren of the trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened beyond measure above strength so that we despaired even of life. And that really blessed me because, you know, Paul was very transparent as we try to be about the pain, the suffering, the hardships. You know, Paul didn't avoid it. He didn't just play like it didn't happen.
Charlie LeBlanc:You know, he was honest about how hard it was. But then over here in the fourth chapter, he says, we were hard pressed on every side yet not crushed. And he said, we were perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed. So these are just great scriptures to remind us, number one, that things happen, you know, stuff happens.
Jill LeBlanc:It does.
Charlie LeBlanc:And it's unfortunate. We wish we could live in a perfect world. We wish we could pray away every difficulty or any pray away from us not having to ever go through problems again. But it's really an unrealistic expectation. And, you know, because like you said at the beginning, Jesus said, in this world, you will have tribulation.
Charlie LeBlanc:So we live in a fallen world, in this world where there's problems, there's there's demonic activity, there's diseases running around. I mean, now we can stand, we can walk in faith and we can rebuke and we can bind. And that's exactly what the scripture tells us to do. You know, it tells us to resist the devil and resist difficulties, things that come against us. And I hesitate, but I heard this one guy say this, which I think is a decent it's not exactly what I'm saying, but it's kind of a balance.
Charlie LeBlanc:And he said, don't wish it was easier, but wish you were better. And that's kind of the turn in this is that some things you can't change in life like our loss and like some people's losses, you can't change that. You will have pain going through it, but you can get stronger and you can become better
Jill LeBlanc:Yes.
Charlie LeBlanc:Through these difficulties.
Jill LeBlanc:That's right. And you can learn how to help others that are going through it.
Charlie LeBlanc:That's right.
Jill LeBlanc:As you, you know, recover.
Charlie LeBlanc:Right.
Jill LeBlanc:And the Lord touches your heart and, you know, more healing comes. But you can be a vessel to help someone else.
Charlie LeBlanc:That's right.
Jill LeBlanc:So that's how that's that's one of the ways of becoming better is just being there for others that are walking through similar things that you have walked through.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah. And if you didn't see our most recent podcast, we'd had five different weeks on becoming a good first responder. And so if you're listening to this podcast for the first time, please go to the others and you'll see a lot of things that we believe will really help you. And also while we're mentioning it, please give us a thumbs up or a like on this podcast if you see it on YouTube or wherever you see it. And if you could take a moment to leave a review, that means so much.
Jill LeBlanc:Oh, goodness. Yes.
Charlie LeBlanc:It helps us so much.
Jill LeBlanc:It really does. It helps get this in front of other people. So it's not just for us just to, you know, make us feel good that what we're doing is making a difference, but it it definitely affects the algorithms and how other people will see that this is there and we can help others through you leaving us a good review. I mean, you can leave us a verbiage, a verbal review, that's great. But even if you can just select the stars, that's also very helpful.
Charlie LeBlanc:Right.
Jill LeBlanc:That's a way that you can help us.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah. Well, thanks so much. It'll help us reach more people, obviously.
Jill LeBlanc:Yes.
Charlie LeBlanc:So, we have something very exciting this this time to share about. We are celebrating our forty fifth year in full time ministry. Can you believe that? Forty five years of, we say full time ministry. What we mean by that is, you know, we have been on
Jill LeBlanc:We we drew our living from the gospel.
Charlie LeBlanc:Our living from the gospel Our ministry. Which Paul talks about. And and so it was 1980
Jill LeBlanc:Yes.
Charlie LeBlanc:That we went on staff at a little church in in Phoenix, Arizona after graduating from Rhema Bible Training Center for one year.
Charlie LeBlanc:And we we went there with our first baby.
Jill LeBlanc:Mhmm.
Charlie LeBlanc:Cammie was just six weeks or so old.
Jill LeBlanc:When we moved to Phoenix.
Charlie LeBlanc:When we moved to Phoenix, Arizona and started as the associate pastor, children's no. It was it was associate, youth pastor, and worship leader, of course.
Jill LeBlanc:Yes.
Charlie LeBlanc:And also little did I know-
Jill LeBlanc:Building maintenance.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah, building maintenance. So you never know what you're gonna get into, but it was a great time and it was a great joy. So we're just looking back on forty five years of ministry, of traveling, of preaching, of singing, writing music, creating CDs, working with two incredibly, well, more than two, but two incredible great world renowned ministries, Joyce Meyer Ministries and Andrew Wommack Ministries, both of which we're very still very dear friends with, both of them. But it is an amazing journey. And like we said in the opening, it's been a journey not without difficulty.
Jill LeBlanc:Right.
Charlie LeBlanc:As you know, not only the loss of our son, which was obviously the hardest thing we've ever been through, it's something getting through what you never asked for, as we see on this program, we certainly never expected that or you know, couldn't even imagine it. But there are other things through the journey that, you know, people think being in ministry, you know, you're a minister, and Charlie and Jill, you're worship leaders, and and, oh, you guys just must walk around the house and sing all day. You must just praise Jesus all day, you know? But but we, you know, we raised three kids and and we traveled around the world actually with them at times. And there was so many obstacles, so many difficulties that we ran into on a regular basis.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yep. It wasn't easy.
Jill LeBlanc:Right.
Charlie LeBlanc:And like Paul said, you know, he he said, we went through a lot of tough stuff, hard pressed on every side, but not crushed. I mean, we went through difficulties on the road, on traveling. We hit snowstorms. We we got in accidents. We hit hit a deer once in our traveling. We, our van would spin around in circles at least twice. I know for sure that I I remember our van going totally around in a circle once on a highway and once on a side road, at least those two brakes going out in our Motorhome. In our motorhome. And I mean, it just just one thing after another.
Jill LeBlanc:Yeah. Going downhill, No less.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah. And not to mention Beau breaking his foot in a hotel room in Malaysia.
Jill LeBlanc:Mhmm.
Charlie LeBlanc:You know? Playing on the bed.
Charlie LeBlanc:And, of course, this is just just scratching the surface of things that just come up right off. But but, you know, we are praising God for his faithfulness for forty five years to bring us through some of some very, very difficult times and disappointments, confusion. And I must be honest, financial difficulties through the years because, you know, traveling with three kids on the road and you get a good offering here, not so good offering there. And you run into a lot of financial struggles with repairs. I remember one time we were leaving Pastor Bob Nichols church, which he has now gone on to be with Jesus, which we love him so much. But I remember leaving his church with our three kids going down the highway, all of a sudden we hit a pipe or something on the highway and it went up and knocked into our gas tank.
Jill LeBlanc:Mhmm.
Charlie LeBlanc:And we had gas leaking out of our van.
Jill LeBlanc:Yeah. Someone pulled up beside and said you're leaking gas. Gas or whatever.
Charlie LeBlanc:That's right.
Jill LeBlanc:Yeah. And pastor Bob, bless him, in in pure Pastor Bob style.
Charlie LeBlanc:Oh.
Jill LeBlanc:He was known for this.
Charlie LeBlanc:Mhmm.
Jill LeBlanc:We we called him and said, do you know anyone that anywhere we could take our van to get repaired? He said, yes. I do. We're gonna call them, and we're gonna take care of you too. We're gonna put you in a hotel and and take care of it.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah. He just jumped in the middle of it all.
Jill LeBlanc:Yeah. He and that that's that's pastor Bob.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah. Got us to the Ford dealer, paid for the repair.
Jill LeBlanc:Mhmm.
Charlie LeBlanc:But I'm not gonna let because we had just sang we had just sung at his church and ministered it, and he and he had given us a love offering. And and he said, I'm not gonna let I'm not gonna let the devil steal your love offering, but make you spend it on the repair of your van. There's no way. So so he paid for the complete repair, sweet guy. And then I don't know if you remember, and, of course, I've told the rest of the story, but it was about few months later, we were at a minister's conference with him and he walked up and gave me a check.
Charlie LeBlanc:And I said, what's that for Pastor Bob? He goes, well, that's for the repair of your vehicle. And I said, Pastor Bob, you already paid for that. And he goes, I did. He said, well, praise the Lord that you're double blessed. You know? So but yeah.
Jill LeBlanc:The Lord just has brought us through so many times and in so many different ways. You know, the Scripture says don't despise the days of small beginnings.
Charlie LeBlanc:Right.
Jill LeBlanc:And we certainly had some small beginnings.
Jill LeBlanc:Yes. You know, when we moved to Phoenix, we were on staff at this little church.
Charlie LeBlanc:Mhmm.
Jill LeBlanc:And but we had been doing ministry for a long time, but not drawing a salary from it. Not you know, we we worked secular jobs, but being in Christian rock band and we'd play in the parks and in the prisons and in church youth groups and things like that.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc:We'd been doing that for a long time and then started leading worship while we were going to Rhema at a little church in Tulsa. That's where really we learned I a mean, came from a tremendous praise and worship anointing in St. Louis. It was so rich and we learned a lot there, but then we started on our own in Tulsa while we were going to Bible College. That's when Cammie was born.
Jill LeBlanc:Then we went to Arizona. I'm just, you know, reminiscing.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc:God has just been so faithful from the beginning, from from from before the official beginning. But He He is faithful.
Charlie LeBlanc:He has been and and he continues to. And, you know, the Scripture says, faithful is he who calls you, he will also do it. And and God called us. And, you know, I think what happens to some dear people is they get hit hard like we did, and it it derails them.
Jill LeBlanc:Yeah.
Charlie LeBlanc:And and it causes them to completely turn their back on God. It causes them to say, you know, well, Lord, I thought you know? And I think that's the deception. We we think that, well, if, you know, we're Christians now and the word of God is true, and so therefore we're never gonna have trouble, never gonna have pain. And so then when pain comes, then all of a sudden we're like, wait a minute, God's not real.
Charlie LeBlanc:You know? And I love this passage in Romans 8, and I talk about it a lot, but it's a very familiar passage. But it helped me when I read it in another translation. I think I have it written written down here next to it. I hope so.
Charlie LeBlanc:It's Romans 8 and and in the thirty fifth verse, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Which is amazing. And but I read it in the New Living and it says, can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? And then he goes on to say, does it mean that he no longer loves us if we have trouble and calamity? And so it goes on, you know, continues with that.
Charlie LeBlanc:If we have trouble, if we're distressed or tribulation or persecution or famine or negative, does it mean he does not love us? I love the way it says that because that's the temptation. Part of the temptation when you go through trials, when you go through pain is for you to give up and say, well, what's this worth? I'm a Christian, but if God can't take care of me, then forget it. Well, and I've heard preachers say this and I love this fact.
Charlie LeBlanc:He said, listen, we're saved and we're loved by God and we have eternity with him. And even if we never got anything else on this side or even if our needs were never met, if our bodies were never healed, if if if nothing else but heaven and eternal life, it would be all worth it. Yeah. And the truth of the matter is a lot of the apostles and a lot of those in the early church that were imprisoned and beheaded, you know, that is really they were dealing with a lot of that, you know, with with there was nothing else but knowing Jesus and knowing that he died for them, knowing that he rose from the dead, knowing that his blood was shed and cleansed them for for eternity, that they'll be in the presence of Jesus. And, you know, they they love like love not their lives unto death.
Charlie LeBlanc:You know, they they really, really understood this what we're saying that it's not about all the benefits, although we rejoice in the benefits of knowing Christ and the the benefits of abundant life. You said, I've come to give you life in that more abundantly. We rejoice in that. And when we have it and when we're able to operate in it, we praising God about it, giving him thanks every day. But, you know, this is another whole study.
Charlie LeBlanc:I probably shouldn't breach it now. But when we talk about faithfulness, we think, well, he wasn't faithfully, you know, But no, his faithfulness is his love that never stops no matter what. I could go on preaching. I'm gonna leave it leave it because I see you got a scripture.
Jill LeBlanc:I do. And it's it's right in that same vein. I was reading this morning in Lamentations, and, I just love this portion of Lamentations chapter three. But I looked at it in a different translation today, and it it it is so appropriate to where I and really we were at after we lost our son, Beau. And, it says here in Lamentations 3 starting in 17, it says, I have entirely forgotten your goodness. I thought to myself, my endurance has evaporated. Yahweh has stamped out my hope for the future. Now Yahweh didn't do that, but that was his perception, and that was basically my perception. I remember wandering around in misery drinking the poison of bitterness. Wherever I ponder this, whenever I ponder this, soul fades away within me. Yet there is one ray of hope when I remember this. Yahweh's tender mercies have no end and the kindness of his endless love is never exhausted. New fresh mercies greet me with every sunrise. So wonderfully great is your faithfulness. I tell my soul Yahweh is my abundant portion. I need nothing more so I will put all my hope in him.
Charlie LeBlanc:Wow. That's great.
Jill LeBlanc:And it is really, doesn't it describe our journey so well? Yes. Because we were so broken and, and just didn't see that we would survive, you know, didn't think we could survive.
Charlie LeBlanc:Right.
Jill LeBlanc:I mean, we, we had, you know, we had to stay alive for our daughters, but the rest of it, we were just like, I just want to leave. I want to leave this planet. The Lord reached out. Never left us. He never abandoned us but we couldn't always sense that he was there.
Charlie LeBlanc:That's right.
Jill LeBlanc:And he carried us at those times. You know, we've referred to the footprints in the sand poem in the past and it's so true that he carries us even when we don't realize it.
Charlie LeBlanc:Right.
Jill LeBlanc:And then he eventually shows us his faithfulness where we can see that it's him. We see his fingerprints in our book, When Loss Comes Close to Home. I talk about how I was so embittered in the beginning and I just, I didn't, I didn't talk to God. Had to catch myself from praying because, it just was something I was so used to living in and doing. And and so I had to stop myself because I thought, I don't talk to this guy anymore.
Jill LeBlanc:He let he let me down. And I was that way for weeks, but then after a while when the Lord knew I was ready, he let me begin to see his fingerprints on different things in my life. And I would just like it said in I think it was verse 22 I've already closed it but had a he let me all of a sudden I had a ray of hope because I began to see his presence in my life in just small ways but they were there and then they began to grow and then I began to open my heart to him again.
Charlie LeBlanc:Right.
Jill LeBlanc:And that's His faithfulness at work inside of us.
Charlie LeBlanc:And I love that scripture Jill that we had on both bracelets that we made. Is it 40?
Jill LeBlanc:Isaiah 42:3
Charlie LeBlanc:That says, a bruised reed, he will not break. And there's just something about that, a bruised reed. The Lord knew that there would be pain in our lives, that the enemy and and life itself would would cause difficulty in this world. You have tribulation. He knew it. And and so he had this scripture in there, when you're bruised, and we were bruised.
Jill LeBlanc:Oh, boy.
Charlie LeBlanc:Bruised reed, he will not break, and a dimly burning wick, he will not put out. Man, and you wrote a song to that that we should play some time on the broadcast. In fact, we might have enough time to slip it in here at the end. But, what do you think? You want me to wanna close and and let's play this song? A Bruised Reed? Time to tape it in?
Jill LeBlanc:Yeah, let's just give another word. I just yeah. We'll add this song at the end. But before we do that, I would like to, just show you this is our nine step guide for the bereaved and their supporters. And it's just a beautiful layout of some tips on how to get started in this journey.
Jill LeBlanc:Whether you are the bereaved or whether you are a supporter of someone walking through loss. And you can get this, on our website. I think if you go to charlieandjill.com/welcome, you can click to get this free guide. I printed it out for you.
Charlie LeBlanc:Sign up on the mailing list and you get the free guide.
Jill LeBlanc:Yes. So, I printed it out just because I wanted to see it on paper because I've seen it on my computer a lot, but it's beautiful little document and, we have that there for you. It's just got some simple but very helpful points just to help you get through that time.
Charlie LeBlanc:Amen. Once again, thanks a lot for joining us and we're going to play this song called A Bruised Reed, I guess it's called.
Jill LeBlanc:I think it is.
Charlie LeBlanc:That Jill wrote. And I think we maybe even have a nature video with it. So God bless you. Thank you. We'll see you again on the next episode.