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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 everybody and welcome to another episode of our Finding Hope podcast, Getting Through What You Never Asked For. And that's been the theme of all the things that we discuss on this program is trying to help people get through difficult times as we have experienced difficult times so we understand what that's like. I don't know a person on earth who hasn't been through some sort of tough time.
Jill LeBlanc:Mhmm.
Charlie LeBlanc:And, you know, we were just recently in England, and I remember sharing with them that, you know, Adam and Eve, they had to face their one of their boys murdering the other boy.
Charlie LeBlanc:And can you imagine the pain and the grief? I They don't talk about that much in the bible, but but can you imagine the pain and the grief that Eve and Adam had
Jill LeBlanc:Right.
Charlie LeBlanc:Seeing their two boys like that and one of them murdering the other one, oh You know, speaking of that, Jill, I remember when we were in England, a lady, a grandmother came up to me and she said, Thank you for sharing what you shared today. It really ministered to me. She said, My grandson was murdered. Oh my gosh. When I hear that
Jill LeBlanc:You cannot even
Charlie LeBlanc:I know. It breaks my heart. Just can't even imagine. You know, you can't compare losses or losses and they're hurt, they're hurt. But but, you know, I've often said, you know, we had nine months with Bo to try to get him better and and he didn't and he died and it was devastating. We were brokenhearted. We never dreamed that this would happen.
Jill LeBlanc:Right.
Charlie LeBlanc:But to get a to get a a message that your daughter or your son had been just recently
Jill LeBlanc:or your grandchild.
Charlie LeBlanc:Murdered or grandchild is just so horrible. So, anyway, I I I did I did talk with her and love on her and she was so sweet. And then she pointed out in the congregation, it was after service, she pointed out to me, showed me over the lady that had lost her daughter who had lost her son. So I went over and talked with her as well. And she was so sweet and she just said, Yeah, it's been, I think it had been like twenty two years, something like that.
Charlie LeBlanc:And of course it's been sixteen for our son and so she knew about our son and so she was just very dear, very sweet, but she said there's not a day go by that that she doesn't not remember that awful phone call.
Jill LeBlanc:Oh my gosh.
Charlie LeBlanc:Oh my lord. It's just
Jill LeBlanc:And we have other friends who lost a grandson by murder.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yes.
Jill LeBlanc:And it wasn't for several more years that it was finally proven of who killed him.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc:And and they had some closure.
Charlie LeBlanc:Right.
Jill LeBlanc:But gosh, that's just
Charlie LeBlanc:I know.
Jill LeBlanc:Beyond words.
Charlie LeBlanc:And when you read the headlines, you know, you see it all the time. It's awful. Recently, a guy was convicted and and put in jail for life, and he the mother of the daughter that was that was murdered. And this this daughter was the mother of four kids. And this man raped her and murdered her.
Charlie LeBlanc:And the mom was just in tears testifying to the jury jury and and just, you know, she's mixed emotions, you know, she didn't know what to to say. She didn't know what to speak to the the convicted murderer that was there in the courtroom. But, I mean, these things Gosh. You know, people, you know, people make way too light of the pain of loss.
Jill LeBlanc:Yeah.
Charlie LeBlanc:And that's been our mandate is to to just to share and and awaken the church to how hard this really is. I mean, you know, we just went through all these devastating floods down in Texas, in Kerrville, and so many people lost their lives in that, even little children.
Jill LeBlanc:And even senior citizens.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc:I mean, all ages.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah, they couldn't get out. It's horrible. And they were just devastated with grief and pain and all of the other deaths that we hear. You know, the church needs to awaken, that you can't just put a band aid on and say, well, Jesus loves you and they're in heaven. That is not good enough.
Charlie LeBlanc:You know, it's not good enough for a heart that is shattered, a heart that is broken. You know, the body of Christ needs to learn, if we've shared so often, how to weep with those who weep and how to have compassion for hurting people. We've talked about it so often that true religion is to visit orphans and widows in their distress.
Jill LeBlanc:To care for them.
Charlie LeBlanc:And that shows the heart of Jesus people in pain. Jesus has a heart to help people in pain.
Jill LeBlanc:He does. He was talking to this person in the Bible. He was you know, Jesus, as he does, was giving some hard challenges.
Charlie LeBlanc:Mhmm.
Jill LeBlanc:And this one man said, wanting to justify himself, he questioned Jesus further saying, what do you mean by my neighbor? You know, love your neighbor as yourself. Well, who's my neighbor? And Jesus went on to tell the story of the good Samaritan.
Charlie LeBlanc:Right.
Jill LeBlanc:He said there was once a Jewish man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho when bandits robbed him along the way and they beat him severely, stripped him naked and left him half dead. And as I'm sure you know the story that a Jewish priest saw that, walked on the other side of the road so he wouldn't, what do you call it, dirty himself or
Charlie LeBlanc:Probably. Yeah. Didn't wanna get around a wounded man.
Jill LeBlanc:Yeah. Yeah. The blood and all that. And then later a religious man came walking down the road and crossed to the other side as well. And finally, a Samaritan, who Samaritans and Jews were not they didn't get along. They were kind of rival enemies. And a Samaritan came upon him and was moved with tender compassion for him.
Charlie LeBlanc:Love that phrase right there.
Jill LeBlanc:I know. That's so beautiful. That's this is the passion translation in Luke chapter 10. He was moved with tender compassion for him and he, you know, just bandaged him up. He poured oil on the wounds just to bring some comfort.
Jill LeBlanc:He poured wine to disinfect the wounds and and then he bandaged them up and took them to an inn, paid for the
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc:Paid for his stay there and said to the innkeeper, here's some money to take care of this guy. And if you need more, when I come back, I'll give you more. And and that's an example of compassion
Charlie LeBlanc:Mhmm.
Jill LeBlanc:That Jesus wants us to show people.
Charlie LeBlanc:Amen. Amen.
Jill LeBlanc:But you know what? You hear stories about and I've heard these stories that just make me shake my head. God gives people special grace who, say, walked through the murder of of their spouse or their child. And then you hear these stories about the surviving spouse or parent will go into the prison to see the person that murdered their loved one
Charlie LeBlanc:Right.
Jill LeBlanc:And preach the gospel to them.
Charlie LeBlanc:I know. Well, Jill, I don't know if you remember, but we met a lady
Jill LeBlanc:Right.
Charlie LeBlanc:In Florida.
Jill LeBlanc:People like this.
Charlie LeBlanc:That that that had her daughter had been murdered by the boyfriend, and the lady was able to forgive the murderer and reached out to him in jail.
Jill LeBlanc:I just can't even imagine.
Charlie LeBlanc:The murderer got saved, filled with the Holy Spirit, got released from prison and now the mother of the deceased and the murderer have a ministry together.
Jill LeBlanc:Right.
Charlie LeBlanc:That's that's beyond my comprehension.
Jill LeBlanc:Mine too. And that's an example of God's compassion
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc:And mercy.
Charlie LeBlanc:His mercy.
Jill LeBlanc:And I I mean, in Jesus' name, will never have to walk that road.
Charlie LeBlanc:Right.
Jill LeBlanc:But it's just really hard for me to imagine that. But that is an extreme example of God's love and compassion for people.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yes.
Jill LeBlanc:Wow.
Charlie LeBlanc:I know. And you know, read this scripture, on the last podcast. I'm gonna read it again. I'm gonna read it in a couple other translations in 2 Corinthians 1:3, praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion, the Father of compassion. God is a compassionate God.
Jill LeBlanc:Yes, yes.
Charlie LeBlanc:We miss that. I don't think we see how much he hurts when we hurt. Isaiah tells us that, that when we're in pain, he's in pain. And I like in the Weymouth translation, it says, heartfelt thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Charlie LeBlanc:The Father who is full of compassion. And then the Amplified says, the Father of sympathy, pity, and mercy, and the God who is the source of every comfort, consolation, and encouragement. So we can't magnify enough how great God is and how compassionate he is toward hurting people. As I said in the last podcast, he is close to the brokenhearted And and God is a compassionate God. And when people are bruised and broken and they've been in loss, as I said the last podcast, Jesus is close to them.
Charlie LeBlanc:He's there with them. The scripture tells us he'll never leave us nor forsake us. And even though Psalm 23, we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, thou art with me, the psalmist said. Thou art with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Charlie LeBlanc:And so we see that word comfort in there. We see the word that he would never leave us. And that's the truth. And if you're going through a real tough time right now, grieving over the loss of your loved one, first of all, we want you to know that we love you and we are sorry and we understand, and that is so hard. And we will stand with you.
Charlie LeBlanc:We will pray with you. But at the same time, we also wanna encourage you to realize that the Lord is with you. Even in the deepest, darkest difficulty, the Lord is with you. You say, Charlie, I don't feel him. I don't know where he is.
Charlie LeBlanc:Well, I understand that. We didn't know either. But he was with us and he began to show us his love with just little things to show us clearly that we were not alone, that he was there helping us through the dark times.
Jill LeBlanc:Mhmm. Amen.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah. So, you know, just the picture, having a clear picture of a God that is full of compassion, that's so important. I remember saying, almost in a joking way to a friend of mine, said, Charlie, how are doing? Are you still walking with God? Have you turned your back on God?
Charlie LeBlanc:And I said, no. I said, I haven't, but for now, and again, jokingly, please don't take this out of context, jokingly I said, I've created a new God. And what I meant by that, and forgive me for that, but what I meant by that is I all of a sudden saw the God of compassion. I all of a sudden saw the father of mercies and the God of all comfort. I never saw that before.
Charlie LeBlanc:So that's what I meant by creating the new God. Was leaning on his mercy, on his grace, on his help in time of need like I'd never had before. Right. And just knowing and trusting and, you know, as I've said before, says that he heals broken hearts and he comforts those who mourn. So, thought, I need that God.
Charlie LeBlanc:That's the God I need right now. The God of miracles that I know he is a God of miracles, but I didn't need that God because my son didn't get healed. It was a difficult time for me. I didn't understand the God of miracles or the God of healing or the God that walks on the water. I didn't understand him. I was confused. I was hurt. I was broken. But I did know that I needed a God who heals broken hearts.
Jill LeBlanc:Mhmm.
Charlie LeBlanc:And I knew I needed a God who comfort those who mourn. Needed a compassionate God to walk through the valley of the shadow of death with me. So I reached out to him in that way.
Jill LeBlanc:Yeah.
Charlie LeBlanc:And that was the only way that I was able to get through it.
Jill LeBlanc:Yeah. Thank God for his mercy.
Charlie LeBlanc:I know.
Jill LeBlanc:You know, and with me, as as we've shared before, it was a different story.
Charlie LeBlanc:Right.
Jill LeBlanc:You know, I was just so wounded and disillusioned that I just shut him off. I just shut him down. I didn't pray. I didn't care to hear anything from him.
Charlie LeBlanc:Mhmm.
Jill LeBlanc:I didn't think he cared, you know, because we sometimes look at God through our lenses.
Charlie LeBlanc:Mhmm.
Jill LeBlanc:This this lens that we've created, this is how God is. And, you know, it's a big subject. You know, this whole thing of why didn't my prayers get answered and, you know, why did our son die and all this stuff. It's a massive subject.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yes.
Jill LeBlanc:And we we can't go there, you know. But but I I I didn't I didn't ever wanna talk to God again because, you know, I was just so hurt and wounded, broken
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc:Disillusioned, just all of it. And he he just he was alright with that. You know, he was patient with me. He he carried me when I couldn't walk. He was that good Samaritan. He found me and cleansed my wounds and bandaged me up and took me to an inn and paid for my care. And when I was finally ready, he let me begin to see his, I say that he let me see his fingerprint on things. Just little things eventually started happening that that I thought, wow, that's really interesting. And so it was god's compassion towards me in the state that I was in. And, you know, some would would maybe say, oh, you were just being so carnal. You know, how how could you be that way towards a loving God?
Charlie LeBlanc:Mhmm.
Jill LeBlanc:Well, you know, it's just what it was. And I was, like I said, you know, looking through my own lenses
Charlie LeBlanc:Right.
Jill LeBlanc:At God and and he's just so much bigger. And and, anyway, he he won me back by letting me see his fingerprints. Thank you Jesus.
Jill LeBlanc:And letting me see that he he was carrying me
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc:When I couldn't continue walking.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc:When I was so wounded, injured, and and gently brought me back. So I'm extremely grateful for his compassion.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah. Isaiah, I can't I can't find the scripture right off right now. I should know it by heart, but it it basically says that when Israel suffered, God himself also suffered.
Jill LeBlanc:Mhmm.
Charlie LeBlanc:And it says that and he carried them.
Jill LeBlanc:Mhmm.
Charlie LeBlanc:I love that. And, you know, God is a God of compassion. He's always had love and compassion for his people. And he has love and compassion for you when you're having a difficult time. And like Jill said, he will carry you.
Charlie LeBlanc:I love that line in Stephen Curtis Chapman's song, he'll carry us when we can't carry on. It's just a beautiful thought. Man, you know, he's there with us in the midst of pain. He's he's crushed with us. You know, and it reminds me of Jesus when he approached the tomb of Lazarus. The Bible says he wept, but he wept because he saw them weeping.
Jill LeBlanc:Yeah.
Charlie LeBlanc:And he saw the pain of humanity. So I wanna encourage you that when you suffer, God suffers. When Jesus sees you crying, he cries. It's okay to cry, it's okay to hurt, but Jesus is there to heal your broken heart, but he's also there to weep with you.
Charlie LeBlanc:He doesn't rebuke those who have broken hearts, he loves those who have broken hearts. He's close to those who have broken hearts. People sometimes call us they're guilty because they feel, I'm crying, I shouldn't be crying. We've talked about this so often. But Jesus is close to you when you're hurting and when you're in pain.
Charlie LeBlanc:He'll be there to minister to you, to pour, like Jill said, the Good Samaritan, to pour the oil and the wine and to cleanse your wounds and to take you somewhere safe and to make sure that you get better. The Lord will do that for you. But He is a good God and we should never get that confused. You know, I was reading in Exodus, and this touched me so deeply where Moses said, Lord, please show me your glory. And the Lord said, I will make all my goodness pass before you.
Charlie LeBlanc:All of my goodness. I love that. So God is a good God and he said, I will show you all of my goodness. I'll make it pass before you. So the glory of God is the goodness of God.
Charlie LeBlanc:That's another teaching altogether. But later in verse 34 and 35, it said, the Lord descended in a cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord, merciful and gracious, long suffering and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands and forgiven iniquity and transgression and sins. He was just proving that saying with his own mouth, this is who I am. I'm a God of mercy.
Charlie LeBlanc:I'm a God of compassion. I'm a God who cares for you and will be with you no matter what you go through. So I don't know, but I just that helps me a lot because I was afraid of God. I was upset with God like I was confused, but to know that he had compassion on me. And you know, I was thinking, I was actually was turning to it a minute ago over there in Psalm 139.
Charlie LeBlanc:You know, we've we've all been familiar with this scripture quite a bit, but I'm gonna read you to you just a little bit of it. Psalm 139, Where can I go, verse 7, from your spirit or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there.
Charlie LeBlanc:If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the outermost parts of the sea, even there, your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall fall on me, even the night shall be light about you. Indeed, the darkness shall not hide shall not hide from you, but the night shines as a day and the darkness and the light are both. I could go on and on. But isn't that beautiful?
Charlie LeBlanc:You know, God is clearly saying here that no matter how deep and how dark life gets for us, no matter how much we even run for him and try to hide from him, you know, he's there, he'll never leave us or forsake us. And I'm reminded of Adam and Eve, when they sinned, they hid themselves from God. And we have a tendency to hide from God when we are hurting, when we're bruised, when we're broken, when we're disappointed, when we're angry. We have a tendency when we sin, we have a tendency to hide, hide from him. But he's reaching out.
Jill LeBlanc:Mhmm.
Charlie LeBlanc:The next thing it says in in Genesis, it said, then God was walking in the cool of the day in the garden and he said, Adam, where are you? That's his heart from the very beginning. Where are you? You know, why are you hiding from me?
Charlie LeBlanc:And I just pray that you hear God speaking to you right now just crying out to you saying, don't leave me, don't run from me, don't hide from me. He's calling your name and just wanting to love on you and to help you and to heal your broken heart and to minister his grace and his love. And like Joe, what you said earlier, you know, why, how, are we gonna Lord, I don't understand. Well, there's so many things we don't understand in And this Corinthians tells us very clearly that it says, we see through a glass darkly, but then we will see face to face. And so, just don't see everything on this side.
Charlie LeBlanc:We don't understand everything. And I've said this many times that we have to learn how to live in what we know and not in what we don't know. If all we do is constantly be just saying, you know, I don't understand and what happened. I mean, I could say that right now because I still don't understand why Bo died. I don't want him to be dead.
Charlie LeBlanc:I don't understand this. This is confusing to me. I could go through all kinds of rabbit trails to try to figure out why and who messed up and why he messed up and what happened. But the Lord spoke to me and said, Charlie, live in what you know and I know that God is a good and a compassionate God. Scripture is very clear that he's a good God, that he's a loving father and that he is a God of compassion and that he's there to help us in our deepest darkness and in our deepest time of need.
Charlie LeBlanc:I just read that to you as well in Psalm 139. So don't run from God, run to him
Jill LeBlanc:Yes.
Charlie LeBlanc:In everything.
Jill LeBlanc:He's amazing.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc:Wanted to, again mention, in case you, aren't aware, we have this new resource called the God of all comfort. And this one is a USB. You can put it in your computer, in your smart TV.
Jill LeBlanc:I think you can even put it in a in a USB outlet of your car just to listen to it. But it's it's a teaching that Charlie did on the god of all comfort.
Charlie LeBlanc:Mhmm.
Jill LeBlanc:It's got, PDF downloads of scriptures about comfort and and just all all kinds of encouraging passages, and it's got a devotional, and it's got music, and it's just a really cool resource. So we just wanna encourage you that if you're struggling, this will help you.
Jill LeBlanc:It'll or or if you know someone that is, it would be a really sweet gift for them. And it can also be just downloaded. It doesn't have to be in USB. So you can go to our website or you can click the link below to check that out. And we also want to invite you to join our email list. We have a a really cool scripture collection in that as well, which will be a free gift for you if you sign up on our email list.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah.
Jill LeBlanc:And we also have an upcoming event the beginning of November. So definitely stay connected. We're gonna do a live time. I don't know if it's going to be Zoom or Facebook or what yet, but we're calling it hope for the holidays. We just want to give people that are struggling knowing that the holidays are coming.
Jill LeBlanc:We just wanna talk together and and we'll have time for Q&A and and just encourage you in this season that's supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year. But for some of us, it's like the most dreaded time of the year. Yeah. So, connect with us, on social media, on our email list so that we can definitely keep you in the know on all of those details.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah. And on this podcast, please let us know if this is helping you or ministering to you in any way. Leave us a comment below, put a thumbs up on it, subscribe to our channel, and that'll help us reach so many more people as well.
Jill LeBlanc:Share it with others too.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yeah. Yeah. Just go ahead and share it with others. So there's so many things. Please go to our website, charlieandjill.com.
Charlie LeBlanc:We have lots of other teaching. We have resources there as well. Yeah. Of course, our book is on the website as well and all of our music.
Jill LeBlanc:And right. And we have a blog called Inspire, and it's full of all kinds of great teachings
Charlie LeBlanc:Yes.
Jill LeBlanc:To help you in your if you have a grief journey, just encouragement in the Lord. So check that out. It's just there to help you grow in the Lord.
Charlie LeBlanc:Yes. So remember, God loves you. I'm gonna pray for you right now, if you don't mind. Lord, we just thank you for helping all of these people, Father. Lord, if they are in a situation where their hearts are broken, where they don't know what to do, they don't know what to say, I pray that you help them, God.
Charlie LeBlanc:You are the God of present help in time of need. You're the God of compassion. You're the God who heals broken hearts. You're the God who is clothed to those who have broken hearts. So Lord, I pray that your spirit of comfort would be upon them, Lord.
Charlie LeBlanc:And Lord, I pray that you send good, safe friends into their path, not just anyone, but good, safe friends that can weep with them, Lord. Not try to correct them, but that can weep with them and love them, Lord. We pray your blessing and your help on each one. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Charlie LeBlanc:Amen.
Jill LeBlanc:God bless you. We appreciate you joining with us and we pray that these things we've shared today would would affirm you in your journey and just to so that you know that you know that the God of compassion is holding your heart and carrying you through this time.
Charlie LeBlanc:Amen. Yes. So God bless you. We'll see you next time.