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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.
Hi and welcome. This is the Finding Hope podcast. We're Charlie and Jill LeBlanc and we are so grateful that you've joined us today. We want to continue talking about the God of all comfort because where would we be without Him? my goodness. All of us that have walked through difficult times, we found more than ever how much we have thrown ourselves on Him because we've needed that.
Yes. And before we go on, I wanted to talk about our book. I want to mention it. When loss comes close to home, this is a book of comfort. And the whole first half is written to those of you that have experienced loss on any level. Really, we talk mostly about losing a loved one, but it applies in any situation. And then the second half of the book is written to those who
are walking beside the one who has lost. And just to learn how to be a better comforter, how to let the God of all comfort touch your friend through you. So we want you to get this. If you haven't gotten it yet, you can go to our website, Charlieandjill.com. You can get it on Amazon. It's also available on audio form as well as Kindle form. And so we want you to make sure.
get hold of that. We'd like to invite you to join our email list. We put out encouraging content. And that's something that the Lord has called us to all these years when we were mostly doing ministry and music, as well as now ministry with for for grievers is encouraging the body of Christ, whether it be through worshiping the Lord through his word and song or preaching.
And now through sharing about how we can be better comforters to others and how the God of all comfort holds you in your grief. join our email list and let's stay connected that way. And don't forget to share this episode with your friends that may need it as well. Yeah. And, I want to say a quick word about partnership too. know, Jill and I, as we've taken a step
faith into this new ministry of ministering to people who have gone through losses. It's a new season for us and you know so we're not out doing as many worship nights and ministry in churches and things like we used to do with our music ministry. We're focusing a lot on just ministering through this podcast, putting out newsletters and materials to help people who are grieving. So if you
are able to support us on a regular basis that would be so helpful because it has been a different season for us to not have the regular income that we do from all of our traveling so if you could that would be a great blessing to us. Yeah it's like we've become missionaries to hurting people and so that just like a missionary that lives in another country we get to live in in our home country but we are missionaries to help
comfort grieving people. That's right. And our hearts are to continue to minister to you and help you in your journey of grief. So we have this teaching that I did on a USB. Actually, we have it available to you called the God of all comfort, but we wanted to share it with our podcast listeners. And it's on this USB, along with a lot of other great materials on it.
But we encourage you to just sit back and listen. I poured my heart out in this teaching. I ministered everything that I had concerning the God of all comfort and just how much God loves us and walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death. So we encourage you to sit back and let this minister to you. And we pray that if you have any questions, any concerns, anything that we can do to help you.
please just let us know in the comments. We're going to close out with this teaching and then we'll just look for you next Tuesday as well, okay? And let me just say real quickly, this is available through our website. You didn't say that, did you? I did not. Yeah, so charlieandjill.com. You can order it there. We've heard from others that have gotten it and that it's just a real comfort. just ministers a lot of peace.
And so you can grab that for yourself or for someone you know that could use a message of peace and comfort. it has the teaching, nature videos, scriptures, the devotional, even a soundtrack to a song that you can sing along about the God of all comfort. So God bless you and enjoy the teaching.
The Story Behind the Song:
Hi, and thank you for joining us today.
Hey, we're so excited that you came and we have some real special things to share with you.
We've got several resources we've created talking about the God of all comfort and his comfort is endless. It's it's just with us all the time. And so, we've got lots of great things in this collection that we believe will be a help to you.
Yeah. We actually have a song that we wrote called The God of All Comfort that we're going to share with you in just a few minutes.
But before we do, we want to share with you a little bit of the story behind writing the song God of All Comfort. It's taken from second Corinthians uh the first chapter and the third and fourth verse, mainly the third verse where it says, "Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies and the God of all comfort." Mhm. And you know that scripture jumped out at me. Uh many of you aren't familiar with our story, but 16 years ago, our son died of cancer. He was 23 years old. He battled for nine months. We battled with him. And it was a devastating loss. It broke our heart.
It destroyed our faith. We didn't know where to turn. We didn't know what to do. We didn't know if we would actually survive. But the Lord helped us little by little. He walked with us through the valley and through the pain as he does. He'll never leave us or forsake us. And he brought us to a very much stronger, safer place as we are today sharing this with you. And you know, Paul said to comfort others with the same comfort that you have received from the Lord. So that's our prayer today is we want to comfort you. We want to minister to you.
And we believe this song uh will help you. It's called, as I said, the God of all comfort. And the first line of the song says, "Earth has no sorrow that heaven can't heal." I don't know if you've ever heard that statement, but I had never heard it before, but you have.
I heard it about 25 years ago. I was in a gas station and there was a rounder of greeting cards as they do and I just was looking through them because they were all really pretty and I ran across this one that said earth has no sorrow that heaven can't heal and it was a um a condolence card for someone that that had experienced loss. So I thought, "Wow, that is beautiful and so what a cool statement." I got a couple of them, took them home, and eventually sent them to people that I wanted to, you know, send a condolence card to. So, I was familiar with that statement. Didn't know where it came from, but I just always thought it was so beautiful.
Yeah. And then and I didn't even know she had gotten the card. She does these things without me knowing it, of course. And and so, uh, you know, it was years that was way before we had lost Bo and we had experienced that kind of sorrow.
And uh and so later, fast forward, we lose our son and we're all devastated. We have two daughters, Camille and Cherry. And they were devastated. All of our lives were shattered beyond words. But as time went on, God began to help us. God began to heal our broken hearts.
And my daughter Cammy was at uh at a funeral and they went to the graveside service. And while she was there, she looked over at another tombstone and it had on the tombstone that phrase, "Earth has no sorrow that heaven can't heal." And so she called us on the phone and she says, "Dad," she goes, "How you doing?" She goes, "I just wanted to tell you I just saw this on a tombstone." And I was like, "Whoa." As soon as she said it, it hit me. Cuz I had never heard it.
You had, but I hadn't. And so it touched me deeply because the sorrow that we were experienced could only be healed by the God of heaven and the comforter from heaven. So as soon as I heard that song, this melody came out and it just said, "Earth has no sorrow that heaven can heal." It just kind of flowed out of me and and I knew that it was an anointing was on that song if it would come straight from heaven. And so then I did a little more research on it even more recently and found out that it was a famous poem that has been around for ages. And uh I think you've got it there, don't you?
I do. It's called Come Ye disconulate which is a person that just cannot be consoled, cannot be comforted. Yeah. And uh it's old English so bear with me here.
Come ye disconulate wherever you languish. Come to the mercy seat.
Fervently kneel. Here bring your wounded hearts. Here tell your anguish.
Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.
Joy of the desolate, light of the straying,
hope of the penitent, fadeless and pure.
Here speaks the comforter tenderly saying,
"Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot cure."
Here, see the bread of life.
See waters flowing forth from the throne of God, pure from above.
Come to the feast of love. Come ever knowing.
Earth has no sorrow but heaven can remove.
Praise the Lord.
So that was I was doubly blessed when I found that poem and I thought wow. But the first line is what uh inspired the song for me. Earth has no sorrow that heaven can't heal. And I went on to say though we seem broken and scarred hope for tomorrow strength for today always embraced in his arms. And that we can say that God carried us. He embraced us with his arms through this difficult, painful time.
And then I go on to the second verse and I just remembered this little poem called
Footprints in the Sand. And you know, uh, before we had this tragedy, I didn't really think much about the poem. I thought it was cute. It was sweet and everything, but you know, I didn't really relate to it that much. But after we lost Bo and we went through the pain of loss, I and I needed God in this way, I realized that he did carry us through the most difficult part of our life because when you're hit that hard in grief and pain, you really can't even walk hardly uh through through this type of situation. So uh again, Jill, I think why don't you read that for us of footprints in the sand?
Sure. Footprints in the Sand. It's by Mary Stevenson, written almost 100 years ago, 1939.
One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky. In each scene, I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints. Other times there was one set of footprints. This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints. So I said to the Lord, "You promised me, Lord, that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I've noticed that during the most trying periods of my life, there have been only one set of footprints in the sand." Why, when I needed you most, you've not been there for me. The Lord replied, the times when you have seen only one set of footprints is when I carried you.
That really means a lot to us. Now, you know, I I I really feel like God in his love carried us through the most difficult time of our life. As I said, and I ran across this scripture uh in Isaiah 63:9 where it says, "In all their suffering, he also suffered and he lifted them up and carried them through all the years." That's the loving father that we have. That's the God of compassion, the father of mercies, the God of all comfort. He comforts us in all of our situations.
And then I found in Psalm 68:19 in the New Living Translation, it says, "Praise the Lord. Praise God our Savior, for each day he carries us in his arms." Wow. I love that. He carried us, didn't he? He sure did. And it makes me think about the um the good Samaritan. Mhm. Because the the guy on the side of the road that had been had been beat up and robbed, he was just helpless. And this good Samaritan, he picked him up and carried him to an inn. Right? And I've thought about that so many times about that's what Jesus did for us. He carried us to a place where we could receive help and healing and and ministry from his heart.
Right? So that's where the second verse came from. Uh watching our footprints there in the sand wondering why only one. That's when I realized he carried me on safely embraced in his arms.
Then we go into the the chorus actually which was just a very simple chorus. It just came out of my heart. I thought what else can I say but just hallelujah. So we went into this simple little chorus uh just saying hallelujah father of mercies is he hallelujah God of all comfort to me.
And uh the last uh verse actually is pretty much the same. It's father of mercies, comfort to all, healer and help for my soul, God of compassion, holding my heart, lovingly making me whole. And you know, I just want to say something about holding my heart. You know, the Bible says that God is close to the brokenhearted. Yes.
Sometimes we feel like, you know, God is afraid of pain, afraid of us when we're in pain or he's, you know what to do. No, God jumps in the middle of our suffering. He jumps in the middle of our pain. Scripture says in Isaiah, as I mentioned, he says uh he says he when Israel suffered, he also suffered. And the Bible says to weep with those who weep. And and Jesus himself wept at the tomb of Lazarus when all of the Jews and all of his and his and Mary and Martha were weeping. He wept with them.
And so I just want you to know that God loves you and that he is a comforter. And as we play this song for you, I really believe it's going to minister peace to you. I believe it's going to minister comfort to you. And I believe it's going to help you if you're mourning, if you've been through a difficult time of a loss of any kind. I believe this song will be a real blessing to you. So sit back, close your eyes if you want to, or if you're watching it by video, watch this beautiful nature video and it will bless you and encourage you and let us know how it blesses you.