Hope In The Mourning

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Speak your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. What is your hope in the morning? Ah, not morning spelled M-O-R-N-G-I-N-G, but morning M-O-U-R. Like, oh my goodness, I don't know what you've experienced in your life, but I'm going to guess that there's been a point of some deep loss.

And mourning can come certainly at the loss of a loved one, but it can be at the loss of a lot of different things. And so, you know, what brought you hope in that situation for real? You know, what did that feel like? And what did you experience?

How did you experience God's presence maybe you didn't experience God? I would love to know. This is a live show, and again, that's what makes it fun, is your calls. And so we want you to call in today.

The number to do that is 866-348-7884, 866-34-TRUTH. Again, the question is, what is your hope in the morning? M-O-U-R-N-I-N-G. And here to help us with that is actually just an amazing young lady, Emily Curtis. Her book that just actually came out in August is already a bestseller. Now, you might guess the title of it's Hope in the Morning. But nonetheless, it is unlike—I mean, there's a lot of books on the subject.

There really, really are. But the neat thing about this one is it's a project in that it's a whole bunch of stories, like I'm hoping you're going to call in with yours. Again, the number to do that is 866-348-7884. But Emily, that's how God put that on your heart, and I think the story of how that happened is remarkable. Thank you. Yeah, I had a small gift-giving business, and out of that I learned of various people's stories and kind of what had been a comfort to them in their season of mourning and what had been hurtful to them.

And so out of that I created this book. There are 21 first-person stories, and the authors walk you into every aspect of their grief. So when they're diagnosed with cancer, you're in that doctor's office with them. You're walking home with them. You're processing that grief and that loss with them. When they lose their child, when there's no heartbeat on the ultrasound, you're there in that room. So it gives you a unique perspective to walk in their shoes and have some empathy. But then at the end of every chapter, there is a section called Hopes and Helps, and they talk about what scripture they clung to on the hardest days and nights and what other people did to minister to them, what people should not say to someone in a similar circumstance, and then what truth they clung to in order to give them hope and the hope that they found in Christ. It really is meant to be a tool to comfort those that are grieving and equip those that walk alongside them. It's a cheat sheet of sorts. You can go through their stories, and you can say, this is what I can actually do to comfort my loved one who's going in this hard, hard valley.

Right. When you think about it, it's a fascinating resource, I guess is a good way, because there's a lot of different kind of mourning. If you get older like I have, I am a cancer survivor. So I do remember that discussion of initial that you've got that disease.

And I also remember a discussion when I was told, well, there's only two people who've ever had this particular kind of lymphoma, and neither one of them lived two months. There's that that goes running around in your brain. That's a different kind of mourning than losing a parent, which I've lost both mine at this point. And then there's all sorts of different, like in the case Joni Erickson-Tada wrote the first chapter herself and talk about mourning the use of your arms and legs for the rest of your life. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, just mourning, we all have hopes and dreams for our future. And we have to trust that our hopes and our dreams might not be the best for our life. But sometimes we have to go through a painful process to get to what God's best is for us and reading other people's stories who have been through the trenches and can give you that hope.

It's encouraging because you see that they have faced something that is similar to whatever it is I'm going through. And they survived. And not only did they survive, but the people we chose the writers or I chose the writers very carefully, who wrote in this book because they are all very strong believers. They are very theologically sound.

And they're able to not only give you biblical advice, but they're very truthful in what they went through. We have a pastor that wrote in there. And he talks about, he says, you know, when his wife was in the hospital giving birth to their stillborn child, he says, I wish I could tell you that I knew exactly what to say to her as a pastor.

And I didn't know. He said, I went to the bathroom and I fell on my knees and I cried to the Lord. I said, Lord, I don't know how to comfort my wife right now. And the Lord just put it on his heart, be still, just be still, be beside her and be still. And they later went on, they wrote two chapters. His wife wrote one chapter on the stillbirth. And later he wrote a chapter on having leukemia. And so they have walked, they have walked hard waters, you know, and they have, they have come out rejoicing with what the Lord has come to develop in their lives that would not have been developed had the suffering been dismissed.

Right. 119 Psalm has some beatitudes in it. I don't know if you ever noticed, but the first two verses talk about blessed are they, right?

And sometimes I wonder if Jesus wasn't using a little of that when he wrote the beatitudes, but the second one is blessed are they who keep his testimonies and seek him with their whole heart. And I know that you listening right now, I know we probably struck a chord. And so the chord that that struck is your own testimony.

And you don't know as you're sitting there wondering, should I call in? Well, there are people just like the people are going to read this book who just lost a baby, or there could be somebody that just lost a job or whatever their situation may be. And your loss and your hope in the morning could be just what they need to hear.

And that's why you need to die. One more time. And not to mention, this is Robbie Dilmore here. You know how I'd love to hear your stories.

866-348-7884, 866-34-TRUTH. And I'll never forget, really, when I think about, and Emily, I don't know if you know this, I do the Christian Car Guy radio show, and some people, that's how they know me. They don't even call me Robbie, they say Christian Car Guy. But the Christian Car Guy show that changed everything for me, and God orchestrated the whole thing, is he gave me the idea of doing a show called Jesus Take the Wheel. And the idea of that show was, in my mind, God had a completely different idea, was I would just play Jesus Takes the Wheel, and then have people call in to tell their story, like you're going to do right this minute during the break.

And they were going to tell me, where were you when Jesus took the wheel? Well, you're not going to believe the first call that I got, but you're not going to hear that until we come back. And when we do, I expect to see your calls. 866-348-7884, 866-34-TRUTH. We'll be right back with a whole lot more Hope in the Morning.

Stay tuned. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live! Today, what was your hope in the morning? Seriously, and with that idea being M-O-U-R-N-I-N-G, like when you went through that situation, you know, what was it?

Maybe something somebody said, or some scripture, or some prayer, or where did that come from? You know, I remember all too well when I had a brain abscess of all things after surgery to my brain, which is something you don't ever want to have if you can avoid it. And this was one of those comforting moments that I'll never, ever forget as long as I ever lived, because it was the most—I've been through a lot of interesting, painful things.

Those people who know me well know this. And my brain was swelling in my skull, and they had to do something to get the pressure off, and so they were waiting to get into surgery to make all this happen, and there was nothing that could stop the pain. I mean, they tried every kind of drug possible, and it was just unbelievably excruciating, and I couldn't hardly deal with anything. And as they told me, Mr. Demore, we've had a problem with electricity and lighting in the operating room, so we're going to have to push over to the side here in a minute until we get that straight, and I know it's really hard, but you're just going to have to deal with it. And so Ramona Seacrest, which was the lady that was in my Sunday school, she did not say a word, but somehow or another I knew who it was when she came into the room, and all she did was hold my hand, because she knew I couldn't take any noise.

I couldn't take anything. But I have always known that was God, holy, always. And so I will tell you that when you go through something like, oh my goodness, that you think there's no way I can take this, God will send something that will end up being a testimony for the rest of your life to his faithfulness, his goodness. So we have my good friend, Bucksman, in Ohio. Bucksman, you're on Truth Talk Live, buddy.

What you got for me today? I got love for you, Robby. Man, I mean that, brother.

I mean that. You are quite a strong man of God, and what you've been through proves that. And just as our, what's our author's name again? It is Emily Curtis, excuse me. Emily Curtis, God bless you, young lady, for what you're doing, and may your ministry reach far and wide, ma'am, especially in these dark times that we find ourselves in, Emily.

I would love to contact you, ma'am, because I think I fit your profile. If you ever do a second book, I would be glad to leave my information off air because what I'm about to tell you is right along the course of what you've written, ma'am. So in 2022, Robby and Emily, I got a call from hospice that my mother passed. It was on a Friday.

This is in March of 2022. We was not expecting mom to die, and I will go into the details about that later, but what we got a call I did at 9 45 that my mother died. Well, Emily, Robby, two days later, Sunday, I found out, as did my, my baby sister, our big brother died in the same weekend. And Emily, it took everything in me, ma'am, and all of my scripture knowledge to not go crazy.

Let me just say that for Truth Talk Live listeners. And I had somebody like Robby just described. When my dear friends, there was a couple that I was really, really close to. They were like sister and brother to me. They weren't, they weren't Christian friends. They were my family. I broke bread with them. I knew their kids. I knew their mom. I pretty much lived at their home, you know, because I'm a, I'm a divorced dad and I live by myself now. If it wasn't for, and I'm going to shout them out if you don't mind Truth Talk Live.

Please, yeah. Robby, if it wasn't for the Conkel family, feel N K E L, if it wasn't for that dear young family, I wouldn't probably, I, I wouldn't be talking to you right now. They held my hand, Robby, so many times. They held my body when I was crying so many weekends and so many Wednesday nights or so many Thursday nights. Hey, come down to the house.

So I would get in my car and I would drive down. And it was, it was just an amazing amount of pain for a human being. My sister is not a believer in Christ. So guess who helped her with her grief and her yelling and her screaming and her just going crazy. Because I did two guys, me, your brother, I was there to hold up my baby sister. As we watched in one horrible weekend, our family died.

We're the last of the team now, the original. So in this family, it's awesome. My baby sister is coming to find Jesus through her bigger brother. Our biggest brother, we're five children.

My sister is the fifth, I'm the third. But mom died on Friday. And then number one, our big brother died on just two days later. We were still in mourning. We was not expecting mom to die.

Hospice was just holding her until we could move her to another facility. But she died. And one thing that brought me peace was the fact that before mom went in for her surgery, she had to have heart valve replacement. I led her to Christ, because guys, I didn't know if my dear mother was going to make it through and she would go into eternity. But she did, praise God. But I led her to Christ just in case.

And I had that peace about me when I got the call from hospice. But my big brother, Chris, the exact opposite guy, he rejected Christ. He rejected Christ. He said, that's for you, brother.

That religious stuff is for you, brother. And I had Christian say, well, he may have said the prayer before he died. No, he didn't.

According to the autopsy report, he died asleep. And he was planning on taking our baby sister out to Las Vegas to celebrate her birthday, because her birthday was that week. So our big brother was going to take our baby sister to Las Vegas and have fun, gamble, and do all kinds of stuff. They were not going to a Bible conference. So he rejected Christ, but my mother accepted Christ. And it was Scripture, Ellie and Robbie, that settled me on both of their accounts, if you understand. Because John says a couple times, he who has a son has life. But then there's a dark side through Paul, that he who has not the son has not life. So part of my balance of grief, my mother had life. But my big brother, who I loved, and he loved us, and he was such a good man, but he was not a Christian.

He wasn't. My Bible brought me comfort knowing that my God is a just God. Well, Busman, you hear this song. Unfortunately, we got to go to a break, man. That was powerful. So, so powerful. Love you.

Love you. We need your calls. 866-348-7884. I know you got a story.

866-348-7884. We'll be right back with a whole lot more hope in the morning. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. Today, we are talking about what was your hope? What was your hope in the morning? And that would be M-O-U-R-N-I-N-G. We just heard a wonderful story from Busman, and I bet you got one that we would love to hear. But Busman talked about that he would love to share that story. And, Emily, you guys at your website, you have an awesome way for people to do that, right?

Yes. If you go to Hope in the Morning, M-O-U-N-I-N-G. It's hard to do without looking at it. If you go to that website, you can go to one where it says, submit your story. And you can submit your own story, and we feature a story from the readers of the book every month. And so you would fill out your own story. You'd fill out your own section of Hope and Helps, which would help other readers be more equipped to get in those trenches with those that are suffering. And you submit a picture, and we feature you monthly.

So how cool is that? Hope in the Morning, pretty easy. You know, you go to that website, and whatever your story, if you don't feel like calling in today, which I wish you would, because I want to hear, I really, really want to hear your story. 866-348-7884, and we have a very familiar voice on the line. Stube, you're on Truth Talk Live, of all people.

Hey, Robbie, I just, I just feel like I have a, you know, a fish out of water here, don't I? I'm standing next to Uncle Lee White, and on the other side of me is Todd Starn. We have a listener all the way from Jacksonville, North Carolina, who's here getting his books.

There are other people who are coming to get their books signed. We are at Goliens in King, North Carolina, like right now, and Todd's got a brand new, amazing book, Twilight's Last Gleaming. Tomorrow on this show, I've got an interview I've done with him, pre-recorded about this book, and how he's loving Winston-Salem, and the food here, and the people, but it's a great book, and there's so many graduation presents, and hold on, let me let Uncle Lee White say it to you. Uncle Lee White, say it to Robbie, you know that guy.

Hey, brother Robbie, it's been a while. Dear White, it's good to hear your voice. I'm glad to having Todd Starns out there in your, in your bookstore is like more than amazing.

That's really cool. What an opportunity people have to make their way up there right now. We're having a great time. He's really enjoyed being here. He got here a little bit early, so we got to check out a while, and this is really a blessing, and so we're looking forward to some more people showing up and just having a good time. That's awesome, Dwight. It really, really is, and you know, that's just another resource. We've been talking about resources, like, oh my goodness, what a resource is up there in King for that. So, Stu, what is your takeaway from having spent the afternoon with Todd there?

Well, I tell you, first of all, any day at Golan is a good day. If you come out here, I spend way too much time here, and we, Emily, we got to get your book in here. I'm excited about that because there's, there's a lot of hope needed, and I was telling Dwight about it, so we'll make sure we get that stocked out here at Golan's, maybe even get you to do a book signing here, get some of the folks here, that wonderful cast of characters that contributed.

Yeah, but that's the kind of things he has, and I am picking up. Oh, Dwight, am I wrapped? Okay, so I'm buying Todd Starns. Todd, say hi. Say hi to the Ask TruthTalk Live listener.

Just add it real broadly real quick. Well, hello TruthTalk Network. Man, it's great to hang out with you guys today. We're having a good time out here at the book signing. I know, and we're so honored to have you on with us, Todd. That's amazing. Well, we're having a blast here, and you guys have been great hosts as we've been out, you know, again, you know, this is our first stop in the big North Carolina book tour.

We'll be in Statesville tomorrow, and then Greensboro over the weekend, so we're just having a great day. Yeah, and Robbie, just to tell you, we got to get you back to Emily. It's what a story she has, and what a wonderful book that is, but I just want to tell you, Dwight, while we were talking about a box, look at those. Just look at that right there.

Would you look at that, Dwight? Robbie, I'm holding in my hand 15 amazing devotionals that Uncle D. White's team ordered and wrapped, and these are graduation gifts. I mean, give something of eternal import for graduation, friends, to the graduate.

Give something that's going to feed their soul, like Todd Star's book, like Emily's book, to help them in their heart, and like the devotional book we just ordered that Dwight wrapped for me. So I'm up here doing a little shopping. I got a little ulterior motive. Mom is in the store with me. I don't even know where she got off to, but she's somewhere in the store. Well, it's grads and dads right now.

It's not just grads. You got to think about those dads. Wait, wait, Todd, did Twilight Place last evening be a good Father's Day book? What about that? It's a great Father's Day book.

There are no pictures, but there aren't any large three-syllable words, so it's a good quick read. It will leave you gleaming. It will leave you gleaming. There are no corny dad jokes, Robbie. I'm just telling you, this is great. People are going to start coming off work. We've been promoting this all week, online, everywhere, and I'm about to do some social media posts just to let some folks know we're here, and I'm going to be interviewing Todd a little more too.

So, come on out to Goliad. Get some muscadine to use from our friends at The Mighty Muscadine. Get a great graduation card.

Get a great graduation devotional for your graduate. Get all these books, devotions, Thank You Jesus signs. They got it going on here at Goliad Christian Supply, easy to find.

King, North Carolina, the big King asset and a King shopping center. You'll see our little Truth sign right here behind Town and Country Restaurant. If anybody comes in here and mentions the Truth Network, I'm going to give a free gift to. So, I can't wait to see you, and Robbie, thank you for letting us interrupt this normal programming with a special announcement from Goliad Christian Supply and the Twilight's Last Gleaming. There you go. Thank you, Stu.

God bless, man. That'd be, stay fun. Have fun. Like, what an opportunity, right, to go spend some time with Todd Starnes and Stu. You know, they're both just amazing, wonderful people and would love to see you.

If you got time to make it up there to Goliad's right now, I know that that would be an absolute blast. Of course, if you happen to be, you know, in Richmond right this minute or in Lynchburg, Virginia, wherever you may be, you know, we need you to call in and share your hope in the morning story, which is you can do that at 866-348-7884, 866-34-TRUTH. So, you know, it's interesting. God called you on this project, and then you got the project for the book. But interestingly, I've always noticed that when God calls me on a project, yeah, it's for all these other people, but he had something special for you. What story grabbed you, or what can you remember like, oh, oh, this one's for me?

Yeah, you know what? I think that there are bits and pieces of each one that has been for me as well. You know, I mean, this was something that I have learned from and grown from, especially their Q&A sections, because we all are guilty of saying things like, let me know if there's anything I can do for you, or feeling like, like you and I had mentioned earlier, feeling like you shouldn't mention their loved one's name who has passed away.

And that's not true. And as I, as I got the opportunity to speak with them, and what a privilege that was for them to really let me into their most vulnerable, intimate moments really was, I felt like that was a big responsibility to carry their stories. And I learned, I learned a lot, I learned a lot about getting out of my comfort zone, and not, not having any of this, it doesn't revolve around me.

You know, this book is not, it's not about me, it's not about me trying to make a name for myself or a name for this book. It's that I truly believe that these stories are going to grow the church. And I think that the more hands that we can get these stories in, the more equipped we will be as a church and as a universal church.

But also, you know, it says, it says in John 13, that the world will know that we belong to Christ by our love for one another. And so in all the busyness, and I'm no exception to that, I'm a young mom of four kids, I homeschool, I'm busy, you know, and we have to learn where do our priorities lie. And we have to make time for one another. And sometimes like there's one, there's one story in here of a young lady who has five young boys. And she has battled an illness for many, many years. And it's it's an ongoing illness, she will have it her whole life. And her story is longer than the others and intentionally so because her suffering is long, everyone's suffering as long. But she is going to need the church to come alongside her consistently and not make her feel like a burden.

And that is how we can be the hands and feet of Christ. And so that has been one of the biggest things I have learned in these stories is just jump in there, you know, be the person that calls and says, Hey, can I take your kids for the afternoon? Can I bring you meals? Can I set up a meal train? Can we bring you meals for the next three weeks?

Can I call and make those doctors appointments for you? You know, and there are things that are just that are overwhelming that we may not even consider. And I've learned so much about like, when someone has a stillborn baby, they're going to have to make funeral arrangements, they're going to get all of these flowers delivered to their house, and they're going to have to watch them die. They're going to have to water them like, go over there, you don't even have to, you don't have to talk.

And you have to know one of the writers said, learn the art of reading the room. And that's so important, because there are some people that it's cathartic to them to talk about their pain. And there are other people that feel like that's invasive.

And so learning people, and even being involved in our church, during seasons of plenty, are going to help us know how can we minister best to people when we all inevitably hit those seasons of suffering? Yeah, I had a very close friend who lost his daughter, right after high school graduation. And he told me something I never have forgotten anytime I hear about a death in somebody's family. Because you know, it's extremely awkward. Like, I don't know what to say.

And then this obviously is a resource for that. But one of the things he said that stuck with me, and I will never forget, I'll never forget the way he said it. He said, Robbie, I can't tell you all the people that showed up at the funeral. I can tell you everybody who didn't. And like, whoa, I don't want to be on that list.

Right? So we're going to be back. We need your story. 866-348-7884. Come on now.

I need to hear it. 866-344-TRUTH. More hope in the morning with you.

Coming back. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. How fun we are having today, even though the subject is mourning. But there's so much to be learned, right?

Like, there's a property maybe well aware of that it's better to be in a house of mourning, right, than a house of feasting. And so we're going to do a little mourning today. But obviously your story is the one that I have never heard, and I would love to connect to it. And so I need you to call. 866-348-7884-86634-TRUTH.

We've got some other resources in this book we want to share. But first we've got Mike is in Ohio. Mike, you're on Truth Talk Live. Good afternoon, my friend. Hey. Good afternoon, my friend.

Hey, thank you for the program. It's reminded me of things I need to help people with. I had a friend who would make my coffee here at Speedway every morning, which was a 7-Eleven. And he was a friend, and we would talk every morning. And his wife passed away. And something happened, and I wasn't able to go to the funeral. And it just reminded me to go see him and mourn with him and be a friend with him.

And then there's another one. My sister-in-law's husband died, and she wants me to go over to her house and pick up some of his tools and be with him as well and be with her. And I need to be more—I wasn't sensitive enough, I guess, with this until I started listening to your program today. You know, that's really insightful, Mike.

That is really insightful from a standpoint of your friend wanting you to pick up those tools. I'll tell you why. My dad died in 2019. Sorry, sir. I understand. His clothes are still in his closet.

Yeah. I can't take them out of there. My dad died, too. Yeah, my dad died, too. And my mom gave me his clothes, and I got some shorts and shirts in here and then in my closet. I'm in like—I'm in the closet right now, and I look at him and I says, every once in a while I'll wear his shirt and I'll cry almost all day, you know what I mean? And I totally understand.

Yeah, yeah. And so, you know, what an invitation, you know, really, Mike, they've given you to come and take part in what is a difficult thing, a really, really, really difficult thing. My wife lost her mother about a year ago in the same house that my father died in as well. And, you know, it's a very tender place for my wife to go up there in her room.

Very tender. And so, you know, what a unique opportunity we all have when we know that somebody's going through that. And if you've been through it, then you know exactly what I'm talking about, as Mike does. You know, but I'm with you, and I think we—you know, Emily, we miss out on these opportunities if we're not sensitive to them, and so, you know, what a cool thing that God brought you along to, like, send us a wake-up call. Right? Yeah. Thanks, Emily.

Yeah, thank you. You know, I mean, I'm going to get your book, so. Yes, you're going to get my—you're going to get the book because we're going to send you one, we're going to send Bucksman 1. Do we have your address, Mike? No, not yet, but that's okay.

No, we're going to get it right now. Grayson's going to—we're going to put you on hold, and Grayson's going to get your address, and you're going to get a book because, you know, it's a tool, right? I mean, a tremendous tool, and I'm so grateful that you call in. As always, Mike, you're a blessing. And so, Emily, you wanted to share some of the other cool things that are available in this resource that now Mike's going to get.

Yeah. So, I was going to tell you, Mike, that first of all, I'm so sorry for the losses, and I'm glad that the Lord has put it on your heart to go and minister to them that you get to be the hands and feet of Christ to these people that are suffering and offer them a dose of His peace and His comfort. So, I was going to tell you that there are a few stories in the book that specifically talk about a widow and a widower, and there are pages there called Hope and Helps, and it talks about different ways that you can specifically minister from their own perspective, from people that have been widowed and widowed, saying, this is what ministered to me most, and these are the scriptures that I found most comfort in. And so, that might make you feel that much more equipped as you go and minister to these loved ones of yours. We also have put in here, there's poetry. I have written an original poem for every story, so there are 21 original poems in here, and those poems are also available on the website at Hope in the Morning.

They are for purchase, for a digital download, and so instantly you can get that and print that out. And if you don't know what to say in a card, it's a great option for you to print that out, sign your name on it, just say, I'll be praying for you, maybe write out a verse that you will specifically pray for for that loved one, and hand them the poem. And that will allow them to know that you see them, that you want to comfort them, if you don't feel like you have the words. And then we also have a scripture in there, and we have printed hymns, and you can listen to all of the hymns at Hope in the Morning as well for free. And that is, that is a resource that I specifically put on there for those that are in the hospital, or maybe they're in bed ill. Maybe they have a heavy heart right now, and their heart is too heavy to read these stories, but everything that's cushioned in between the stories, the poetry, the scripture, the hymn, that is meant for the heavy heart. That is meant to comfort them, to remind them of God's goodness, to root them in truth. Because really, when we're going through suffering, that's our anchor.

The Lord is our anchor. Otherwise, we were tossed to and fro with our, with our own emotions and our own trials. And, you know, I know I was telling you earlier, Robbie, that our grief is not less. Just because we are believers, our grief is still grief. We still hurt. We still cry. We still carry the weight of these losses because we live in a sin-fallen world. And it reminds us that this is not all we have, though. We have a glorious hope of heaven.

We have something to look forward to beyond this. And we know that the Lord, He is a good God. He is a compassionate God. He will not leave us in our suffering. He will not forsake us or abandon us.

He will redeem what He has started. And He does all things for our good and for His glory, ultimately. And we can rest in that. But it's okay for us to grieve. There's nothing ungodly about grieving. And Scripture doesn't tell us not to grieve because we have hope. It tells us do not grieve as those who have no hope. You're still going to grieve. And there, there are godly ways to grieve. And it doesn't make you ungodly to have emotions, to feel the loss. You know, that is something that we really were very, I guess, desirous of in this book, that all of these authors, they have been very honest with their grief. They're not over-spiritualizing what they've gone through.

They're not sugar-coating anything they felt. And yet, the depth of their hope is just as real. And so with that, at the very back of the book, Alistair Begg has actually written a gospel presentation for us as well so that if you choose to put this book in the hand of an unbeliever, they're going to see the contrast. They're going to see the hope that we have, regardless of our circumstances.

But then at the back, they're going to get to see why. And Alistair is going to lay out very clearly the hope of the gospel and what Jesus has done to take our suffering from us and give us a hope and a future. We also have a resource center at the very back. And so it's tangible gifts. And it's what songs you can send to people, what are acts of service, things that maybe you wouldn't think of.

And it's right there for you all laid out. So if you're in a rush and you're going to go visit someone, you can go to the back of the book and you can say, here's 15 ways that I can minister to someone effectively. And I think another very important critical thing you haven't mentioned, although you mentioned it to me before we started talking, is this book is non-profit. Because the idea of the whole thing is that you wanted to put this book in as many people's hands in order to minister to people. So all the proceeds go back into putting this book into somebody else's hands. Yes, 100% of the prophets. I don't take a dime.

Every author does not take a dime. We actually have contracts with each other, all saying that at no point in this project will we do that. Because our desire is to see the church grow. We want to equip the church to feel like, okay, I am prepared to go down in those trenches with you.

I'm prepared, as one author put here and it inspired one of the poems in here, I'm prepared to sit in the ashes with you and grieve with you and mourn with those who mourn. To not be afraid of that, but then also to equip the pastors, to equip counselors, to help mend the broken hearts that are out there and to show the contrast to the world of what it's like to be a believer who is suffering and what it truly looks like to have a hope that goes far beyond any circumstance we could imagine. Right, and very cool.

John MacArthur's seminary there in California, they're giving a copy of this book to all of their seminary students because, you know, this is something pastors, you know, obviously are in this situation of trying to give people more resources as they're in this place, you know, but I couldn't help it. You know, it's just the way my mind worked. Those people who know me know that I was thinking there, good grief. And I thought Charlie Brown had an angle on this.

Pretty helpful. Like there's grief, but there's good grief, right? I miss my dad, but I'm so grateful that my dad is in heaven, right? And just this week I was really in a tough place about a lot of things that had nothing to do with my dad, and God told me if I would go up to my dad's desk and look in the left-hand corner, there would be a Bible there that I did not know was there. And I couldn't believe it.

This is like four in the morning and I'm praying, right? And I go up there, and sure enough on the corner of the desk is this Bible. It has my name on it because I have my father's name. It says Robert Bruce Tillman.

It was given to him in 1948 as a prize for speaking well at his high school. And he had outlined some passages exactly that I needed in the moment, and it was good. I was crying like a baby, but it was good grief.

God sees us. It's really, really cool. So this resource again, Hope in the Morning, right? And it's M-O-U-R-N-I-N-G. That's hopeinthemorning.com. You can share your story there since you didn't call in today.

I missed out on it. I can read it there. Hopeinthemorning.com. Again, the book is amazing. What a resource. I hope you'll check that out. And again, you heard Stu's got a big show coming for you tomorrow. Thank you for listening. It means so much to us. This is the Truth Network.