I've got something on my heart today that I believe could truly help you — or maybe someone you love. ❤️
God has been nudging me to share resources, mindsets, and a fresh perspective… and possibly even create a community where we can walk through this together. I don’t have it all figured out yet, but I know this: obedience matters — even when we don’t see the full picture.
This is where I am right now: simply taking the next step He puts in front of me. And today, that means sharing this with you.
I’ve created a support series designed to help anyone carrying grief, struggle, or unspoken loss — the kind that can quietly hold us back and weigh us down without us even realizing it.
Maybe this isn’t something you personally need, but your sister, friend, neighbor, or cousin might. Please share this with them. None of us should have to walk through it alone.
Come check out the zero drama, zero judgment women's group who want to dive deeper into their faith and have some girly fun along the way. We'd love you to drop by the Bible Babes!
Transcripts
Mindy Lawhorne:
Hey, welcome to this episode of Hope and Struggle.
Mindy Lawhorne:
My name is Mindy Lawhorne.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I've had a podcast for many years.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Basically over the ways that God has helped me through different seasons of struggle, struggle with little things, growing up with things I had that I struggled with, all the way to where I am now.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I am here coming before you.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Six years after my husband Lee passed away, three years before that, my best friend and sweet sister Rinatta died in a single car accident.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It was horrific.
Mindy Lawhorne:
The shock of my life.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And while I have all, I mean for as long as I can believe, remember I've been a believer as long as I can remember.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I just always thought Jesus was real and I just always thought he was real.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Was someone that I have prayed to and, and sought after really my entire life.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It's changed over the years, and I feel like it's gotten deeper and then smarter than sometimes.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I feel a little farther from him and sometimes I feel closer to him.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And I share that with you because I do believe we go through seasons in our life.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I mean, I know that we do, that may be, you know, a season of being single, then you're married, and then maybe motherhood or fatherhood, and then maybe you enter into this career or this business, or you get really into this particular thing.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Or maybe it's a season of sadness or it's a season of like true struggle, possibly, you know, with a child or with your marriage or with your parents, or, I mean, I, I could go on and on and list, so, so many things, but I come to, I come to you with.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Things that I feel like God has put on my heart to, excuse me.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I have a niche right here.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Uh, you know, things that I've been through that I feel like God's put on my heart.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I want you to share more with this.
Mindy Lawhorne:
The weird thing about grief you guys is, well, I guess it's not that weird, but it's highly unattractive.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It is so unattractive and kind of who you were before this grief thing happens isn't really who you are.
Mindy Lawhorne:
After the grief or after the thing happened and during, and, and I can only imagine in my future.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It's, it's interesting the things that go away.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I wanna talk to you about a couple of those today, but I wanna share with you first and foremost, I did.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I spoke at an event called Camp Be More.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I I Please, if you don't follow Hope and Struggle podcast, let me first ask you, please go do that.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Let me encourage you and just ask, would you go follow, would you subscribe?
Mindy Lawhorne:
And I'd love for you to give a rating, even if you're like, I'm not sure about this.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Ratings just help with traction.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But I want for hope and struggle to be something that ministers to people that serves them and that, um, somehow looks into their interest.
Mindy Lawhorne:
You know, that that's what I want it to be first and foremost.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It's not perfect.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It's not fancy.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It's not, oh, here are your five points for the day.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It's going to be what God puts on my heart and.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I believe obedience is much more important than waiting on perfection.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I believe that obedience is even more important than sacrifice and obedience to me is doing what you know, you should, even if you don't have all of the dots connected, even if you don't know exactly, like, I don't know why I'm doing this, but I know I'm supposed to say this or I don't.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Well, you know, especially when it comes to Jesus and the spiritual kind of things like that He does with me and, and yes, I do think you should study for test and yes, I think you should do your hair and, and you know, if you're gonna get, be in front of people, make it easier for them to look at you and listen to you, right?
Mindy Lawhorne:
I do think we should read our Bible and take care of ourselves and all the things, but what I'm referring to specifically is acting in obedience even when you don't know what's going on.
Mindy Lawhorne:
This is where I am right now, and this is kind of where I'm coming to you about concerning.
Mindy Lawhorne:
The big ticket item lately that God's had in my life.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It is that grief is like the hot button for me right now.
Mindy Lawhorne:
First of all, I've been through grief for six years.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I mean, really almost nine years after my sister.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I don't want it anymore.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I want someone to take it.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I wanna.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Have fun and it's not like you can't have fun.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I've always had my joy, but I'm ready to be in a different season.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I'm ready to be in a season of thriving.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I would love to meet someone, right?
Mindy Lawhorne:
I would love to be in a season of where it's like, oh my gosh, this is exciting and I get to do this and we're gonna make this together.
Mindy Lawhorne:
We're gonna go on these things and do these things and, and God just doesn't, hasn't allowed that really to happen.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Now he is allowed me to have a lot of fun.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Yes, I've got to go on trips and my boys are so good.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And that was my main thing.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Main thing is that the boys are good, but.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I believe we are supposed to help people through the things we've been through.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Not only help them in the way that we have learned to get through it, but help others in the way that God has helped us through it.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And even though you may not have really believed it's from him.
Mindy Lawhorne:
If you were still here and you've gotten through and you've learned more and you're better for it, maybe you've, yes you had the pain, but look where it brought you or what do you now know from it?
Mindy Lawhorne:
That's God, and that's a gift from you.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And in Second Corinthians, one through five, I talk about it all the time in hope and struggle, is basically we are to level on others the same way God loved on us through our struggle so that we can help others through that same struggle.
Mindy Lawhorne:
So it's almost like what have you been through?
Mindy Lawhorne:
All right.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And then you see someone else going through that thing.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I believe it's your job to level them, administer them, and help them.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And, and that can come in various shapes and sizes, but you don't have to be an expert on the thing.
Mindy Lawhorne:
You just have to be a little bit ahead of the thing for other people.
Mindy Lawhorne:
So as far as grief goes, truly nine years I'm in this.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And by the way, this may be why you don't hear about grief that much is because it's lame.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Nobody wants to be in grief.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It's sad.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It's sad.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It's like, I think most people will do anything to not feel something.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Okay, let's go to a movie.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Let's go shopping.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Uh, let's have a drink.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Let's watch this show anything to not feel anything.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But I will tell you what I know, leaning into that thing and like being in it and feeling the feelings and, and talking about it and diving deep in it.
Mindy Lawhorne:
That's what makes it all better.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And that's what grows us and that's what almost gives purpose to all that pain.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I'm not saying God's gonna send you a letter with one, sentence saying, this is why you went through this.
Mindy Lawhorne:
You're welcome.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Gosh, I wish you would.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I I, I even sent an email recently, like, I just wish God would text me.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I wish you would text me, Mindy, here's what you're gonna do for the next year.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Okay?
Mindy Lawhorne:
This is who you're gonna meet later.
Mindy Lawhorne:
This is the business you're gonna do.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Stay whole, you know, stay tight, be steadfast.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Things are gonna change.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And I would be like, oh, cool.
Mindy Lawhorne:
He said in six months, blah, blah, blah.
Mindy Lawhorne:
You know?
Mindy Lawhorne:
But it doesn't work like that, unfortunately.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And I digress by trying to explain that and just tell you where things are now and what I wanna do for you.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Or maybe someone that you know, and this is what God has placed on my heart.
Mindy Lawhorne:
So this is, I just wanna share that because I don't wanna be here.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I don't want to be the grief girl.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I wanna, I want us to work out together and I wanna talk about hair and makeup and let's go to Mexico and let's go shopping and let's have fun and laugh our, you know, what's off?
Mindy Lawhorne:
And it's not that we can't do some of those things, but I feel, well, I know wholeheartedly, God has brought me through all this grief so that I, well, it can be used to hopefully help minister to you or someone you know.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Or someone that's lost or someone that will lost, or someone that has just been stuck since that one thing happened.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Now let me define a couple things for you.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Grief doesn't always mean you lost a person.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Grief doesn't always mean your mother's past or your husband or or whoever it may be.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Grief comes in a lot of shapes and sizes, and I have sort of coined the term.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Grief doesn't always follow a funeral.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Grief can be because you're experiencing something in your life you never thought in a million years you would have to experience.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It could be the choices of a child, your own child.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It could be things that they're dealing with or things that they have chosen to do that you would've never, ever, ever, ever, ever thought would've ever happened.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It could be the loss of a career, something you thought you maybe have done, would have done your whole life.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It could be the loss of a marriage.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It could be a shocking truth that you've learned that rocked you to your core.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Grief is something that, again, people don't tend to talk about and people tend to like shove it down.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Well, what happens when we shove grief down?
Mindy Lawhorne:
It holds us back.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It's almost like we keep stubbing our toe over and over again, and until we truly deal with it and process it.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And by the way, I am not a licensed counselor.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I do have a minor in psychology.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Thank you very much.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And I've been a personal trainer for over 30 years.
Mindy Lawhorne:
If you know anything about personal training, it's counseling.
Mindy Lawhorne:
So while I don't have my credentials, I know a thing or two, not only because I've talked with so, so many people.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Gosh, I've trained people, I've taught them, I've been in so many Bible studies, but more importantly, I've lived a life that I don't want you to ever have to live, but that I've learned some things that I think could be beneficial to you.
Mindy Lawhorne:
So regardless of what your grief is, I wanna offer a few things too, and I wanna a lovingly be just a resource for you.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Number one.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I've started a little project called The Ambiguous Grief Project.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I have an email or that's not true.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I have a landing page that you can put your email in and you can get all of the things I've created slowly and surely about grief.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I believe that it's going to push a button with you in a, in the best of ways, somehow, some way.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Maybe it's something little, or maybe it's like my neighbor's going through this right now.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Then you be that connector to get them maybe the podcast through hope and Struggle.
Mindy Lawhorne:
So there's like five or six grief podcasts.
Mindy Lawhorne:
This one will go on there also.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But within this ambiguous, ambiguous grief.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Whole like direction.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Um, I have lots of freebies that I'm gonna give you.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I'm gonna list some of those freebies now.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But let me just back up one moment.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I spoke at an event called Can't Be More with Shalene Johnson.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I will be there next year.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Oh my gosh, I hope I get to help out.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It was a bunch of the most amazing, wonderful women from all different walks of life, all kind of thinking and feeling the same things about this time of life we're in.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And by the way, this isn't specific to grief, it's specific to.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Being in our forties and on, and our parents never really telling us about this stage of life, like the things we were gonna feel, the things our bodies were gonna do, the things our bodies weren't gonna do, the changes.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And it just, when you're.
Mindy Lawhorne:
When you're alone and when you're just living your life, you feel very much like an island.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Even if you haven't grieved, you're like, why is my, I don't even recognize my body.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I don't recognize my face.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I can barely see anymore.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I have to wear readers all the time.
Mindy Lawhorne:
My hair's falling out.
Mindy Lawhorne:
My nails won't grow anymore.
Mindy Lawhorne:
What?
Mindy Lawhorne:
Why does my skin look like this?
Mindy Lawhorne:
My stomach gets bloated every time I eat.
Mindy Lawhorne:
My stomach gets bloated when I don't eat.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I'm constantly fatigued, but I can't sleep.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I mean like this is just me naming a few.
Mindy Lawhorne:
So it was this event by Women for Women led by Chalene on how we can.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Tackle these years in a way differently than our ancestors did, and our moms and aunts did, but in a way they maybe never would have you guys, we do deal with things that I believe some people older than us won't have to deal with, and it has to do with toxins in our environment.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It has to do with all of the chemicals and things in our foods and our in our hair products and, uh, what we put on our skin and our environment.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And I'm not getting in that, in that today, but I want you to know.
Mindy Lawhorne:
That women now, and by the way, you may be thinking all the things.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Well, it's because of COVID.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It's because some people took the shot, some people didn't.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I'm not talking about anything specifically other than the fact is we are dealing with a different set of circumstances than our, our grandmother did, than probably our mother did.
Mindy Lawhorne:
My mother passed at 83 a couple of years ago, and I would ask her, and you know, because, you know, it was in between when my husband was still alive and when he passed.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I'm like, mom did, did your hair ever get there?
Mindy Lawhorne:
My mom had the most.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Amazing.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Her and my sister Renata, my sister Ada, was the one who passed their hair, was next level.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It was on its own planet.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Like you, you could make three wigs out of their hair and they would still have plenty for their head.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Right?
Mindy Lawhorne:
So that's very unfair in general.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But I would say, mom, is your hair thinning at all?
Mindy Lawhorne:
She goes, oh no, this is my mom.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Till like the last time she got a haircut.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Oh no, I, excuse me, I'm recording here.
Mindy Lawhorne:
My dogs like the dog, so they're trying to get on the podcast, but they, they haven't been asked yet, so they're not gonna be on here.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But she would say, oh no, I have to get my hair thinned out.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It's so thick.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And I'd be like, what?
Mindy Lawhorne:
To my knowledge, my mother never took estrogen.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Never did she take test testosterone.
Mindy Lawhorne:
The only thing I knew about my mother, she had a little bit of high cholesterol.
Mindy Lawhorne:
She never took high blood pressure pills, but she took a thyroid pill.
Mindy Lawhorne:
She has some genetic form thing within her thyroid point, is what I'm getting at, is that I would ask her, even my older sisters, do you deal with this?
Mindy Lawhorne:
Do you feel this is your skin, blah, blah.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And they were just like, no.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Either they're making, they're messing with me or they truly didn't experience these things.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But guess what?
Mindy Lawhorne:
The people I talk to have experienced these very things.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Alright, so let me get back to camp.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Be more What I was talking about is, first of all.
Mindy Lawhorne:
That's a plug for you to come next year.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Can't be more.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Please come.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Please come.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Oh my gosh, we're gonna have so much fun.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Second, this event was for women by women talking about all kinds of things.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Just like the things I mentioned women would be talking about.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Everything from, you know, hair thinning to.
Mindy Lawhorne:
These amazing sort of hair extension things that just go on you.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I got to wear one when I spoke on stage and it was the most, I felt so fabulous, but it was about, hormones and about what people do and what maybe the risks are.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It was about GLP ones just answering questions.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It was, I mean, really all kinds of things, including even things women do, such as Botox and like, you know, discord and maybe even women who've had, plastic surgeries and things like that.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It was just a really, really cool event.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And I wouldn't say that every woman there did all those things, but every woman there was dealing with one or two of those things, you know what I mean?
Mindy Lawhorne:
Or they were interested in one or two of those things.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But it just made me feel, number one seen, I felt alive and I felt like, okay, I'm not that weird and I'm not alone on this island, however.
Mindy Lawhorne:
How this relates to grief and the grief thing that we're talking about today is I was asked to speak on a topic called midlife grief.
Mindy Lawhorne:
If you wanna come into my podcast, I have the entire event where I spoke that particular thing there, so you can hear exactly what I spoke on.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But the more I researched this topic, I realized many of us, many, many, many of us have this midlife grief thing.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Could be again, 'cause we've lost someone.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But think of all the things I've mentioned already, just the changes in our lives and our body and the thing that we're always a certain way that are not like that anymore.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And, and whatever that thing could be, it messes with us and it either holds us back or it trips us up as we move forward.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And so part of it is, okay, let's identify it.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Maybe we need to look at the signs that we might be grieving something we've never even really processed.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And by the way, that's one of the first things I send you within this ambiguous grief project.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It's about.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Here's some signs that you physically are dealing with, possibly being in grief of some sort.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And by the way, the grief I'm talking about that we're getting through, by the way, and the grief that we're talking about isn't you being, oh, poor me all the time.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I'm in grief.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I'm talking with you about a way that we can work through it, we can wake way, that we can work with it in a way that we can move with.
Mindy Lawhorne:
The grief thing that's happened way we can move with these things that are happening so that we can be better, so that we can grow, so that we can only help other people.
Mindy Lawhorne:
That we can be stronger, we can learn more and come to a new season in our life, right?
Mindy Lawhorne:
Rather than be stuck in the same one forever, many years.
Mindy Lawhorne:
So we talk a little bit about things that you might be grieving that just are unnamed, that maybe you've never really known.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Like what are some signs.
Mindy Lawhorne:
You know what I mean?
Mindy Lawhorne:
There are some signs like, like sometimes you're exhausted all the time, but you really don't know why.
Mindy Lawhorne:
You find yourself pulling away from you from others.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And then some people you're like overly attached to, you can't stop comparing your life to others' life.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It's, it, it's like things, there's a whole list, but there's a whole thing about like, why do I think of these things now when I really haven't in the past?
Mindy Lawhorne:
Or I thought me at this age would be so different.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Right?
Mindy Lawhorne:
It's something that we need to identify.
Mindy Lawhorne:
There are also some things in here that I want to, offer you and just be a resource for you that talk a lot about, a lot about things.
Mindy Lawhorne:
We rarely acknowledge that we probably should acknowledge and process you guys that can kind of pull us down and keep us in a little area of grief.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But then I also share with you how I've gotten to where I've gotten.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And by the way, I'm not out of.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It's not like I never think about it.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I think about my, my, my husband and my sister Renata, actually all the time.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I had a lady at Garrett's new school.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I was talking with one of the teachers and she, and the, A lady was with two daughters and kind of kept looking at me and I looked at her and she said, I'm so sorry to bother you, but are you Renata's sister?
Mindy Lawhorne:
So first of all, Renata's been dead almost nine years now.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Renata and I unfortunately didn't look that much alike.
Mindy Lawhorne:
What I wouldn't have done to look like my sister Renata.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And by the way, if you ever see my sister Renata, you'll be like, okay, I get it.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But she said she was my daughter's sec, 2-year-old mother's day out teacher.
Mindy Lawhorne:
She loved her.
Mindy Lawhorne:
She didn't get a second hug from her every day.
Mindy Lawhorne:
We would have to get outta the car and go back and get another hug from your sister Renata.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And of course, none of these little two year olds between two and 3-year-old could say her name.
Mindy Lawhorne:
So she was like, uh, NNI, she was Miss Nana.
Mindy Lawhorne:
She was all these fun names and she absolutely loved it.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And she was actually the most perfect 2-year-old.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Mother's Day out, if you don't know what Mother's Day Out, I'm sure you do, but it's sort of like a, like a daycare, but it's usually through a church.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But it's like, gives mothers four hours twice a week or whatever, or four times a week depending on how much you want your child to go.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But it's usually they get like, you know, recess and then they get taught songs.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And of course there's usually like, you know, a whole Jesus thing 'cause it's at a church and then they get, they start learning their ABCs.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It's like a really good, wonderful, wholesome place.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Like I would take it there of course, when I went and taught and then, you know, he got to have my sister Renata.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And you know, I'm sure he was treated like a prince there.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But the reason I say that is because she, her daughter, who's like 12 now, 13 was like, I can hear her voice in your voice.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And you know, I'm like trying not to cry.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And the mother's already crying because my sister Renata died while she was still, in that role as a two and 3-year-old at Mother's Day Out.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And, and Grief never, it never, it just rolls off your back.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It hits you hard and on a day I wasn't even expecting it.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I don't get to talk about Renata that much anymore and dang it, I don't get to talk about Lee that much anymore either, unless it's someone that knew him.
Mindy Lawhorne:
You know, the people I meet now, they're like, well, who's Lee?
Mindy Lawhorne:
And that's so hard you guys, that is so bleeping hard.
Mindy Lawhorne:
You don't dang well he was my better half, you know?
Mindy Lawhorne:
We were like partners.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I mean like fact you don't know him.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It breaks my heart, but it is what it is.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And these are just two examples of kind of living with grief and living with, you know, the loss of someone.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But what I've learned in this time, I, I wanna share with you through this.
Mindy Lawhorne:
This project, and I don't know a hundred percent where it's going, but I have been obedient in the sense of get some emails started, make a landing page, make some resources that other people can utilize that have helped you.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And besides those ones I mentioned, I have my top 10 go-to scriptures for when I'm grieving, for when grief hits hard.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I share with you those.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I share a grief.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Scripture writing plan, and this may be sound a little foreign to you, but let me, lemme talk to you about writing.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Um, I, I'm not a great writer and like, I'm not never gonna sell a book or anything, but writing is very therapeutic.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It's cathartic.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It's something that whe whether you have good handwriting or not, that's not what it's about.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But it, it like gets your emotions out.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It allows you to focus enough in writing that you can sort of get it all out.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I highly encourage you to quote unquote journal.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I highly encourage you to write your prayers out.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I'm sorry for the squeaky noise.
Mindy Lawhorne:
That's my chair.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Um.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I, I have for years written my prayers out.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Like it, it helps me.
Mindy Lawhorne:
'cause like, have you ever started praying and you just like lose your train of thought and next thing you know you're doing a grocery list or, or if it's me, I start doing choreography from a next, you know, class I'm teaching and I'm like, oh my gosh, see, I'm so sorry, God, let focus me.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Right?
Mindy Lawhorne:
It helps you.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Or at least helps me focus and I kind of get my words out the way I want.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And I know that God knows my heart, but he still wants my time and he wants me to want to be with him.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And he wants me to, on purpose, make him a priority and spend time with him.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And so when I prayer, write, or prayer journal, it's so.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Unbelievably amazing.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And so I encourage you to do that, but that is where this grief scripture writing plan come in.
Mindy Lawhorne:
So just like on day one, you're gonna write one Corinthians 1551 through 57, find a beautiful notebook, find a great hardback, you know, I don't know, notebook that you can use.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Find beautiful paper, I don't know, whatever that you like, get like a great pen, whatever.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But you sit and you first open your Bible.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And by the way, if you don't have a Bible, can I encourage you to please get one?
Mindy Lawhorne:
I would I would highly recommend for you to get a, the Holy Bible, the new international version, the new King James version.
Mindy Lawhorne:
The ESV version is a great version.
Mindy Lawhorne:
There are many versions, but I, I study those mostly, but I.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I want you to open your Bible and read that scripture right, and then go to that beautiful notebook or whatever you have, and then write it in.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Write in, you know, one Corinthians 1551 through 57, and write it in, like look at the Bible, go to the your notebook, write it in and look at it.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It does something beautiful and amazing in our hearts.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I will tell you quickly what it does for me at number one.
Mindy Lawhorne:
At first and foremost, it calms me.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Like even thinking about it, it's like my shoulders decrease a little bit.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It calms me.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Number two, it gets God's word in my heart and my brain and, and takes it somewhere else.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And you, you guys, the Bible promises us that God's word is sharper than any double-edged sword.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It post like pierces the very bone and marrow and, and I don't want that to be like, oh, that's a, you know, a. Terribly violent thing.
Mindy Lawhorne:
What it means is that his word runs deep.
Mindy Lawhorne:
His word will run deep into the depths of us, into our soul, into our spirit.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I want that because I need his hope and his truth all day long, and not this other stuff, unfortunately, that comes at us, that comes at us, comes at me.
Mindy Lawhorne:
That's on your phone, that's on the news, whatever.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And all that being said, you get quite a few PDFs that I'm gonna send for you that I've created for you already, in addition to me encouraging you to listen to some of these podcasts.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I think that will help.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I also give you a few books that have helped me, uh.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And before, before you read any book, if you're grieving, E even a little bit.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Even a little bit, can I just encourage you for something, no book other than the Bible in my opinion, will ever be completely what you need.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I have, hi.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I've got a dog.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Would you like to see my dog by the way?
Mindy Lawhorne:
So, hi.
Mindy Lawhorne:
If you're listening to the podcast, you want to see it.
Mindy Lawhorne:
This is Hutch.
Mindy Lawhorne:
He is a rescue.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Look how cute he is.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Oh, he's so cute.
Mindy Lawhorne:
He, I think we don't know what he is, but we think he's a poodle schnauzer mix.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I wouldn't recommend a poo poodle schnauzer mix in the future.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I'm kidding.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But he is very needy.
Mindy Lawhorne:
He's very needy.
Mindy Lawhorne:
He loves his mama.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But we're the third house that's had him, and he's not very smart.
Mindy Lawhorne:
He's not very smart.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And um, he's a mess.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And like he doesn't, he I've tried to discipline him.
Mindy Lawhorne:
He doesn't listen to me.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But he needs a male figure in his life to help teach him.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Can you hear them?
Mindy Lawhorne:
What to and what not to Anyway, neither here nor there.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Point is I have all this for you and I want it to be a resource for you.
Mindy Lawhorne:
These books that I was mentioning.
Mindy Lawhorne:
If you do get a book, just ask for God to show you something through the book.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Something that would not only draw you back to him, but something that would minister to your heart.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I wouldn't say there was any book I read over grief or grieving that I was like, this is the one that helped me.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It was parts from many books.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It was parts and excerpts from many books that I've read.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And by the way, the amount of books that I was given after Lee died one, Renata two was remarkable.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I mean, like remarkable.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Have I read them all?
Mindy Lawhorne:
No.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Have I read?
Mindy Lawhorne:
Half probably half.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But I needed, it's like you need to hear what you need to hear, when you need to hear it, and it, it may not be that book at that moment, but I do believe that they can be helpful.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But I always pray about books and things like that before I read them.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It's like, God, I love you.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Please just show me you through this.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Show me principles and things you want me to see through this and anything that you know.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Is not of you.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Anything that you know does not pertain to me.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Just let me just, you know, roll over it, and keep on trucking.
Mindy Lawhorne:
So I've got these for you.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I wanna encourage you to sign up.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I'm going to give the link within the show notes.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Also be sharing this within my social.
Mindy Lawhorne:
If you don't follow me on social, would you follow me?
Mindy Lawhorne:
It's Mindy Lawhorn.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Everywhere.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Ever were ever, were also hope and struggle is on Instagram, you know, Facebook well, I'm really probably mostly on Instagram, let's be honest.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And then I have the Bible babes, which is just another way I minister to women and just share with them what's going on.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But you guys, I have all these things for you.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I don't know what I'm doing with it, you guys and you may think, well, why would you even start this?
Mindy Lawhorne:
Well, because I'm being obedient.
Mindy Lawhorne:
We don't have to have all of the answers in order to step out in faith and know that God's gonna do something with it.
Mindy Lawhorne:
So I am stepping out in faith.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I know that God's gonna do something with this.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It may be a community, I don't know, maybe it's just a little Facebook page.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But, but I will tell you over many, many, many years of just opening a Facebook page and making things like come when you want.
Mindy Lawhorne:
No one comes.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But I have learned when we nail people down to a membership, by the way, my dog is looking at himself in the mirror and he's growling, and he's growling at himself.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Like I said, not real smart.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Anyway, I have found that when we nail people down to, hey, we're doing a group.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Yes, you're going to have a minimal fee to be in there.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Why?
Mindy Lawhorne:
Because money locks you down.
Mindy Lawhorne:
If we don't have money, we don't value it, but that money we can save and then we can give it if we want, or I can use it for any of the promotional stuff that I have to get someone to help me with.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But it helps you guys to get us locked down, and then we become.
Mindy Lawhorne:
A community, we've become a community that lifts each other up.
Mindy Lawhorne:
A community that helps other people not feel so alone and a community that like, let's grow together.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Let's use this as an avenue.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Not to think poor me, but to think, okay, what can I do with this?
Mindy Lawhorne:
'cause really the bottom line is you guys, when something has happened to us.
Mindy Lawhorne:
We're either a victim or we've been chosen as part of a grand story, and I fully believe we've been chosen to be part of a story.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And so I'm gonna do my part, and I'm going to not be a victim.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I'm not gonna use it as a crutch.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I'm gonna live in it and I'm gonna sit in it.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I'm gonna process it, but I'm also gonna pray about it and I'm going.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I want to help other people through it by giving more purpose to this pain and try to.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Utilize it in the areas I need growth.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And I don't know why God allows what he, what he allows.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I don't know why he does what he does, but his ways are not our ways.
Mindy Lawhorne:
But that doesn't mean I don't trust him fully.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I give all this to you in love.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Thank you so much for being here.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Please click on the show notes, follow me.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I'm gonna give you the link so that you can be part or at least get the emails, um, with all of these free goodies in it for you.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And again, if you're thinking, this isn't me, okay, but is it your sister?
Mindy Lawhorne:
But is it your aunt?
Mindy Lawhorne:
Is it a a lady you work with?
Mindy Lawhorne:
Is it someone at your church?
Mindy Lawhorne:
Word of mouth is key.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And I think especially when.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Something is as sort of tender as this.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It almost comes better from someone that cares for you.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Let me pray out.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Jesus.
Mindy Lawhorne:
God, I love you so much.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I thank you for these people listening.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I thank you, Lord God, that you can do so much through some of our hardest moments.
Mindy Lawhorne:
From our, some of our largest pain.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Lord, I know you allow the things that you allow for reasons I don't understand.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I don't get it, Lord, but it doesn't make me love you less.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It doesn't make me trust you less.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I still firmly stand on your truth and you are my hope, Lord God, you are my deep, deep joy.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Thank you, precious Jesus, for dying for us.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Thank you for always being here.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Thank you, Holy Spirit for being our helper.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Lord, I pray if someone doesn't know you.
Mindy Lawhorne:
So it's hard to sort of understand in our human mind, but I pray that you would open their hearts and that you allow that faith to come into play, Lord God, and that you would just give them.
Mindy Lawhorne:
A knowledge of you and an awareness of you.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And it needs to come to them in a vision or a dream, or let them have an experience with you, God and the real God, the only God of the universe, the creator of everything.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Let them have a real experience and know that they don't have to live a life of fear with, you know, that there's a there's like this life of freedom that comes from being your child, Lord God.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And no, it doesn't mean everything's great and no, it doesn't mean we won't have pain and have trouble.
Mindy Lawhorne:
We might even have more, but it's only earthly more.
Mindy Lawhorne:
It's not e eternal more, it's eternity with you.
Mindy Lawhorne:
What's the alternative?
Mindy Lawhorne:
Eternity without you.
Mindy Lawhorne:
And I don't even wanna talk about that, Lord.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I don't even want that to be a thing.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I want this to be something that ministers to people and first and foremost, that they would accept you and find out that you are real.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Lord.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Let them open their hearts to it and then they can see as they walk through a life, living a life so differently.
Mindy Lawhorne:
With us, walking along with you and you opening our minds to your word and your way.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Lord God, I love you so much.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I pray this all in your name.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Amen.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Thank you for being here.
Mindy Lawhorne:
You guys please sign up for our little, my Little Grief project, and I say it with a smile because.
Mindy Lawhorne:
We're gonna have a good time there and it's not just gonna be we shed and grief, we're gonna have fun, and we're gonna learn more, and we're gonna learn from each other and we're gonna support each other.
Mindy Lawhorne:
Thank you so much for being here, and I'm sorry that my coworkers back over here.
Mindy Lawhorne:
My four-legged coworkers are so very distracting.
Mindy Lawhorne:
I apologize for that, but thank you for being here.
