Unexpected Grief
About this Episode
Episode Summary
When was the last time you faced loss? We will all, unfortunately, be touched by grief at some point in our lives, and we learn that it is often an ebb and flow—grief is not linear no matter how much healing you’ve done. After several miscarriages and then the sudden and unexpectant loss of her husband, Dawn Mann Sanders got to know grief well. In her suffering, Dawn experienced intense anger towards God as she wondered, What now, Lord? Join hosts Elisa Morgan and Eryn Eddy Adkins as they hear Dawn’s journey of finding herself secure in God’s care after facing so much grief.
Episode Transcript
God Hears Her Podcast
Episode 198 – Unexpected Grief with Dawn Mann Sanders
Elisa Morgan, Eryn Eddy-Adkins with Dawn Mann Sanders
[Music]
Dawn: But then when I went to bed to have that cry, I was so exhausted. I said, You know what? I don’t even have the energy right now, God. I tried to go to sleep, had a fitful night, woke up the next morning going, Okay, I’m ready to box… with God, right? And only two words came out: What now? It’s like my faith had weathered all of those miscarriages, like you said, and not that I don’t believe. I know You can heal me. I just don’t know who I’m gonna be on the other side of that healing.
Vivian Mabuni: You’re listening to God Hears Her, a podcast for women where we explore the stunning truth that God hears you. Join our community of encouraging one another and learning to lean on God through Scripture, story, and conversation at GodHearsHer.org. God hears her. Seek and she will find.
Eryn: Today we are talking to a woman who has faced a lot of heartache. Dawn Mann Sanders is the author of When Your World Ends and the founder of a ministry focused on people rehabilitating after facing a devastating loss. Let’s hear her testimony.
Elisa: Eryn, I know you have had moments in life where the unexpected has occurred.
Eryn: Yeah. Yeah. A few memories come to mind.
Elisa: Yeah. And I sure have too. And I’m… I’m positive everyone listening has. And, you know, most of the time the unexpected is not a happy thing. Most of the time it’s like bleh! Occasionally a surprise is nice, but one of the things we really love to do on God Hears Her is dive into the nitty gritty—the real deal, the stuff that might be hard to talk about. But we feel like—you, me, and Viv—we feel like if we can go there in our conversations, then we really empower everybody listening to go there.
Eryn: Yeah. Yeah, that’s true.
Elisa: So we’re gonna have a conversation with a really cool woman that I’ve not met, but I’ve known a little bit before. She’s had a lot of unexpected, and she’s written about it. She has a book that tells her story. She’s a pastor in a cool church—First Baptist Church of Glenarden. She’s a woman who has encountered a couple too many items in the “unexpected” list. So welcome Dawn Mann Sanders with me.
Eryn: Hi Dawn! We’re so excited that you’re here.
Dawn: That… um… excitement is contagious. I am excited as well. Thank you for having me.
Elisa: Yeah, I think we need to have this conversation together, Dawn. I have a feeling this conversation is gonna help us as we move forward in our lives and unexpectedly face some things we didn’t think we were gonna face. So… so tell us a little bit about yourself in terms of where were you raised, how’d you grow up, how’d you come to faith? And then we want to go into your story even more.
Dawn: I was born on Travis Air Force Base, so I’m a military brat…
Elisa: Cool.
Dawn: …But I only spent three months there. In fact, while my mother was still carrying me, my father got orders to come east. Travis Air Force Base, for those who don’t know, is in California. And at 3 months old, I started living on the East Coast at Bolling Air Force Base. My parents raised me in a Christian home—the kind where faith was modeled. We didn’t sit down and have devotions per se, but when my mother got up in the morning, I’d see her reading her Bible. When crises hit, she’d ask us all to pray. At church, my father would hand me money so I could give in the offering.
Eryn: Yeah.
Dawn: Right? To teach me about giving, and things like that. So faith was modeled more than taught didactically to me.
Eryn: Okay, so you witnessed it being modeled for you. At what point in your life did it become a faith of your own?
Show Notes
- “God, how do I know that I’m Christian when I am this angry? And He told me, ‘You know I’m going to heal you.’ ” —Dawn Mann Sanders
- “Its okay to be angry at God and with God. It’s okay. God can handle it—look at Job! God can handle our anger. He can handle our pride.” —Dawn Mann Sanders
- “I couldn’t pray for myself, but I could pray for other people, and that helped me stay connected to God.” —Dawn Mann Sanders
Links Mentioned
Verses:
Genesis 1:1-8 – God separating light and dark, water and sky
Related Episodes:
- GHH Ep 20 – Dealing with Loss with Eryn and Elisa: https://godhearsher.org/podcast/dealing-with-loss/
- GHH Ep 96 – Growing Through Grief wit Karen Booker Schelhaas: https://godhearsher.org/podcast/growing-through-grief/
- GHH Ep 139 – Moving Through Grief with Chriscynethia Floyd:
https://godhearsher.org/podcast/moving-through-grief/
Links:
- Dawn Mann Sanders Website: https://dawnmannsanders.com/
- Dawn’s Book When Your World Ends: https://a.co/d/iOQL72p
- Unshakable Moxie BOGO Deal: go.odb.org/bogo
- God Hears Her website: https://go.odb.org/ghh191
- Subscribe to the God Hears Her YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@GodHearsHerODBM
- Share Your Story: https://godhearsher.org/share-your-story/
- God Hears Her email sign-up: https://go.odb.org/ghh-sign-upsfmc191
About the Guest(s)
Dawn Mann Sanders
Dawn Mann Sanders (MDiv, Bethel Seminary) is an associate minister at First Baptist Church of Glenarden (FBCG), where she serves as the director of the sermon-based life groups ministry. Her passion is expository teaching and sharing the wonderful insights God has shown her in His Word. She does this through writing weekly discussion guides for life groups as well as teaching several in-depth Bible studies. Dawn has written and taught extensively on overcoming adversity and creating a new life, both at FBCG and on her personal blog.
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One Response
Good morning 🌄 Dawn, Eryn, and Elisa.
I hear and feel. Dawns grief fourteen years past her husband’s transition and the three miscarriages.
My oldest son and husband died nine months and three days apart in 2016.
The night of my husband’s death I asked God, what in the he’ll are you doing? I am extremely grateful God revealed Himself mightily in my deepest darkest seasons of life.
There’s not enough space for me to share how God grew me through that season.