Latest / Cry It Out Loud: Navigating Infertility, Miscarriage, Stillbirth, Infant Loss & Pregnancy After Loss / Healing in Harmony: Shelly Johnson on Grief, Healing Through Music & Faith

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Healing in Harmony: Shelly Johnson on Grief, Healing Through Music & Faith · Cry It Out Loud: Navigating Infertility, Miscarriage, Stillbirth, Infant Loss & Pregnancy After Loss

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  Crying Out Loud, a podcast by Chasing the Rainbows with your
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  host Bernice Quisenberry. Welcome back to Cry It Out Loud,
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  the podcast where we turn pain into power, one story at a time.
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  I'm Bernice, and today we have someone truly special with us.
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  Her voice that's moved thousands.
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  A songwriter whose lyrics feel like they were written just for
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  us, especially in our darkest moments.
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  Shelly Johnson is a celebrated singer whose music doesn't just
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  entertain at heels, but behind the spotlight is a story of deep
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  loss and transformation. Today, Shelly will be sharing
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  all about her personal experience through grief, how it
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  shaped her music, and the songs that became life lines for her
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  and for so many of us. So grab your tissues, take a
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  deep breath, and join us for this powerful conversation.
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  So hi, Shelly, thank you so much for joining us.
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  Hi. Thank you so much for having me.
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  It's an honor to be here. Well.
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  It means so much to have you know your powerful voice and be
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  able to share you know all about your lost journey with our
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  listeners for them to, you know, hear who you are.
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  Yeah, it's an honor. You know, God doesn't waste
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  anything and he uses everything we go through.
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  And I've found that he especially uses the really hard
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  things we go through in the biggest ways.
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  So it's an honor to get to share.
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  Anytime I get to share some of my journey, it's always an honor
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  to see God use that to bring just a small amount of healing
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  to people's hearts and their own journeys.
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  Thanks, Shelly. Well, and I was introduced to
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  you, you know, through one of our survivor volunteers and
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  through, you know, your music speaking and resonating to, you
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  know, baby lost survivors around talking about these, you know,
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  this type of traumatic grief and all of that.
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  So I would love for you to share you know about yourself and your
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  story with our. Listeners, yeah, absolutely,
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  yeah. So I, you know, I grew up.
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  I feel like I've something that I am really thankful for that
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  I've realized as an adult that I think I probably took for
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  granted as a child was just the, the family life that I got to
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  grow up with. Just had two parents who really
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  loved the Lord and loved each other and loved us.
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  I have two older sisters. So I grew up in a family of
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  three girls and we just had a really, you know, every family,
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  every extended family has their family dramas and their
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  challenges. And we definitely had those.
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  But our core family unit, just of the five of us was just
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  really loving and really caring. And I always knew that my
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  parents loved me and loved each other and loved the Lord.
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  And so I think that that was just such a foundation for my
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  life and didn't realize until well into adulthood just how
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  much of A foundation that was going to be.
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  So yeah. So for me, you know, childhood,
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  I have a lot of happy memories from my childhood.
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  But when I was 13, my daddy was diagnosed with cancer just
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  totally out of the blue. It really blindsided our family.
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  He seemed to be a picture of health.
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  He was in really good shape. He was fit.
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  He was 45 years old. He was young.
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  He was, you know, he just seemed like he was doing good.
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  And then all of a sudden he wasn't and he just, they found
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  tumors everywhere in his entire torso.
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  Just really, really bizarre. And we went through all the
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  treatments and all the things, but nothing really helped or
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  made made a difference. And so I watched him battle
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  cancer for nine months as a 13 year old girl.
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  And for me, it was just really formative because, you know, he
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  was my hero. He was the strong one in our
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  family. He was the, you know, just
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  always the one who could fix anything, tackle anything,
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  conquer anything. And so the I remember the first
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  time I ever saw him cry was during that season when he told
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  us that he had cancer. And just watching him be broken
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  and watching him literally just not just be broken emotionally,
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  but to be broken physically. He was, you know, he exercised a
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  lot. He was really fit and in shape
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  and, and just watching him go through chemotherapy and cancer
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  treatments and just what that does to the human body.
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  And just, he, he went from being this really vibrant, healthy 45
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  year old man to just literally being skin and bones and just
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  watching your, your hero of your dad just wither away right
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  before your eyes is it's really not words to describe, you know,
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  the toll that that takes on a 13 year old girl's heart and, and
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  mind and life. And, and so during that season
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  that he was battling cancer, you know, music had always been my
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  life, just my whole childhood, just playing piano and singing.
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  But when my dad was battling cancer, I just really poured
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  myself into my time with Jesus at the piano.
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  And I just felt like I met Jesus behind my piano and I started
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  playing and praying and writing songs.
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  And I would just go sit at my piano.
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  And it just became my sanctuary with the Lord where I would just
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  pour my heart out and cry and just try to process all the
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  emotions that I was dealing with.
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  And I remember the night that he passed away, I was so devastated
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  because I really believed that God was going to heal him.
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  And I really was praying for God to answer that prayer of
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  healing. And obviously he answered it
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  eternally, but he didn't answer it the way that we hoped in
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  healing him, healing his earthly body so that we could enjoy more
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  time with him on earth. And I remember the night that he
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  passed away, I was just so shocked and so devastated
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  because I just really believed God was going to answer my
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  prayer. And I couldn't believe that he
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  didn't answer my prayer. And I just felt so devastated
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  and disappointed and hurt. And I remember walking down to
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  the piano where I had spent so many months, just pouring my
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  heart out to the Lord. And I just remember I slammed
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  the lid shut over the piano keys and I just sat there in silence,
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  just looking out the window because I didn't know what to
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  say to the Lord. I just had no words.
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  And I just remember feeling His presence in that moment for the
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  first time in my life. I had never experienced the
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  presence of God until that moment.
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  And it was this tangible. It was like he was sitting on
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  the piano bench right next to me with his arm around me.
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  And it was just this tangible presence that I knew the Lord
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  was with me and I knew that he had me.
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  And that was a pivotal moment for me of commitment.
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  And I just felt him say to me, I know you don't understand this
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  right now, but if you keep trusting me, I promise I'll use
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  this for your good and for my glory.
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  And so for me, that was a commitment that night in 1999
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  when my dad passed away. And I just was like, OK, Lord,
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  like I'm going to, I'm going to trust you.
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  I'm going to follow you. And so I had a very clear
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  calling on my life to write songs and lead worship and do
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  music as a ministry. And there was just no doubt in
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  my mind that that's what I was supposed to do.
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  And so that's, that's the journey that I've been on ever
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  since. And I LED worship all through
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  high school. And then I moved to Nashville,
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  TN to go to college and studied music there and had a great
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  experience there and was involved in a wonderful church
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  there where God just really nurtured my heart.
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  And I got to serve under some wonderful shepherds and pastors
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  who really cared, cared for me and just poured into me and
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  mentored me. And yeah, so really, I mean,
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  it's just been, I'm 39 now and just, you know, have been
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  journeying with, with the Lord for these last 26 years when my
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  dad passed away when I was 13. So it's been 26 years of just
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  watching God turn, you know, beauty or turn ashes into
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  beauty. And I've been through a lot of
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  seasons, different kinds of loss.
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  You know, the loss of my dad was the biggest one, the first one.
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  And then, you know, we've walked through different seasons of job
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  loss and just wandering seasons. And we've, we've gone through a
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  lot of church hurt seasons as well.
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  But another major loss that we walked through was when we lost
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  our second baby to miscarriage. After my daughter was born, We
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  we lost our second our second baby.
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  And there was a song that was born through that process called
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  Heaven Someday. And even just how God has taken
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  that song and used it just in ways I could never imagine has
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  just truly blown me away. It was the one song that I
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  probably thought I would never record or release because it
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  just felt so deeply personal to me.
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  And it just felt like a, a grief healing song for me personally.
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  And it was so raw and so tender for me at the time that I wrote
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  it. I, I didn't, I just didn't.
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  I couldn't imagine recording it, much less putting it out there
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  for the world to hear. But God just made it so clear
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  that he wanted me to do that. And I've just been completely
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  blown away by just the message. I mean, I literally get messages
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  every other day on YouTube from people all over the world who
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  are going through the same thing.
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  And God is using that song to bring comfort.
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  And it's just, it blows me away just how the Lord works.
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  And, you know, I think I've learned.
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  I still have a lot, a lot that I have left to learn, but I feel
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  like I'm just starting to learn just the value that that grief
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  and that loss really has in our lives.
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  It's we don't want to go through these things.
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  We, we hate it and we would, we want to avoid it at all cost,
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  But there is a cost to knowing God on a deeper level and, and
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  knowing the depths of his presence and his goodness.
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  And the, the cost is that you go through great pain in order to
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  know that. And, and it is a treasure when
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  you, when you get to experience the depths of God at that level,
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  it is a, a priceless treasure, but it doesn't come without
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  great, great cost and great pain.
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  And you know, something that God has really reminded me of
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  recently. I think a lot of times when we
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  go through, and I hope this can encourage your listeners because
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  I'm sure they've felt this before.
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  A lot of times when we go through these painful seasons
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  and it just feels so unfair and it just feels so unjust.
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  And we, we just battle with God and we're so angry because we
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  just think, you know, how can you allow this to happen to me?
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  Or how, how can you just stand by and just let this happen?
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  And we just start to ask all the why questions.
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  And it's so hard to understand and, and it's so hard to relate
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  to God in those moments because you just, you question his love
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  for you. You question his, his presence
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  with you. You just question his goodness.
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  You know, all these things. And it's funny the things that
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  God will use to just jolt my heart into truth because a
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  couple weeks ago we've been walking through kind of a recent
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  thing. And a couple weeks ago, my son's
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  pre-K teacher, she sends out like this text every week to all
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  the parents of what they learned that week in preschool.
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  And this was just a routine, just weekly group text to all
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  the parents. And in her text, it said, this
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  week our Bible story was on the story of Daniel.
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  And she said Daniel's faithfulness and obedience to
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  the Lord landed him in a lion's den.
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  And just something as simple as that.
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  It just hit me so hard. You know, sometimes we think if
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  we follow God, if we do the right things, if we trust him,
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  like everything will just work out so great.
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  And some, you know, things do ultimately, ultimately,
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  eventually eternally work out. But when you really study
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  Scripture and you start to see all these people who walked with
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  Jesus, like most of the time it's the ones who trusted him
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  and were faithful and obedient, where they actually found
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  themselves in the lion's den or betrayed or crucified or
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  imprisoned or persecuted. And so we're actually in really
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  good company when we when we are suffering and we go through
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  suffering because we're literally in the company of
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  Jesus and all these heroes of the faith that trust in him, but
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  yet found themselves walking through really hard seasons.
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  And so just, you know, just remembering that that it's, it's
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  a marathon and, you know, heaven is our ultimate reward and our
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  ultimate home and the ultimate moment that we get to finally
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  rest and finally exhale and know that Christ will make all things
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  new. But until then, you know, we
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  really are on a journey of there's going to be hard things.
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  And it's really just about trusting him.
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  And how much do we really trust him?
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  And it's really easy to say that we trust him, but when it really
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  comes down to it is when your heart is completely shattered,
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  completely broken, you have no answers, you have no
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  explanation. And yet even in the midst of
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  that, you just say, Lord, I trust you, blessed be the name
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  of the Lord and joy and sorrow, I'm going to trust you.
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  And so that I think that's probably the biggest lesson that
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  I've learned in my adult journey.
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  It's just what it really means to trust Jesus and how much it
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  really does cost. Thank you so much for sharing.
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  You know, your, your story and yeah, your journey and, you
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  know, you turning and finding, you know, your your God and
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  everything. Shelly, this is so powerful.
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  And, you know, I think in those moments, you're right.
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  Like we questioned so many things and it's hard not to,
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  right when you are faced with that adversity, especially, you
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  know, lost parents and, you know, losing our babies and not
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  getting a lot of answers and things like that.
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  And it's and it's true. It's hard not to question faith
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  when you know, but it's really in those hardest moments when we
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  need to turn, you know, to what we believe in and, you know,
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  hold on to and things like that. Absolutely, Absolutely.
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  Absolutely, Shelly, yes. And you know, what's interesting
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  is so you're saying that and and this is how we got connected
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  through to was through, you know, someone reaching out to
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  you and all those things because of how powerful your words are.
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  Like, what does that mean to you when you get, you know, other
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  lost parents reaching out and saying to you, thank you.
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  Like, thank you for your music, thank you for your words.
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  Because it really does open it up to, you know, ways that I
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  can't sometimes communicate words from a beautiful
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  songwriter. And, you know, those kind of
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  things you do. And it's.
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  Yeah. Yeah, it's really, for me, it's,
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  it's a couple things. It's it's really just the
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  evidence of God's redemptive work.
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  Anytime I get a message or anything from somebody about how
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  a song has just ministered to them in their darkest moment,
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  it's just another example of God being faithful to that promise
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  he made me the night my daddy died of like, you know, when he
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  said, if you'll keep doing what you're doing, I promise I'll use
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  all of this for your good and for my glory.
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  And you know, God is so faithful to to his word and to his
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  promise. And so for me, it's just, it's a
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  proof of his faithfulness, but it's also just, it's really
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  beautiful to see just how God can use one person's journey and
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  one person's pain to then breathe life into someone else's
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  pain. And only God can do that.
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  I mean, because in, in the world that we live in the World of
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  Darkness, like pain, you know, pain just breathes more pain
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  like that. That's, that's so upside down
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  for pain to bring healing. But only in God's Kingdom does
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  he do the upside down. He, he literally takes something
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  that's really painful for one person, then he's able to
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  transform it and then use it as something healing in someone
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  else's life. And it's just this beautiful
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  holy thing that only he can do. And it, it just really is an
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  honor to to even be used in that way that he that he can
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  orchestrate something that is just so healing and so just has
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  so much sacred holiness to it in someone's life.
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  Absolutely. And I mean, finding, you know,
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  people who understand and survivors who understand what
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  you're going through is so important in those moments or
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  like someone that, you know, like is in the trenches with you
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  and things like that too. And finding someone who
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  understands, you know, the feelings that you're having
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  those emotions. And like you're saying, you
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  know, God has used you as a vessel.
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  Your your beautiful voice, your music really touch people and to
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  put that, you know, almost like we always say, you know, purpose
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  behind our pain because, you know, we can never take, you
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  know, of course, healing and working through things.
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  But really, though, you know, we're always going to be missing
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  a piece of us and, you know, having different things to turn
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  to and all of that. Yeah, absolutely.
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  Yeah. Something else that I think I've
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  learned a lot about just the process of grief and is that
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  it's not a, it's not an event that happens to you that you go
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  through something and then you move on 'cause I think a lot of
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  times, especially after my dad passed away when I was a
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  teenager, you know, a lot of people would say like, Oh well,
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  time will heal and it'll, you'll move on.
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  And, you know, I think that, you know, people mean well, people
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  always have good intentions when they say those things, but it's
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  not really, I found that it's just not really true.
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  I think grief is a relationship you enter into and it's a
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  lifelong relationship you enter into because it doesn't go away.
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  And it's almost like you don't want it to go away because in
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  some ways that's a way of honoring the memory of the
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  person that you lost or the child that you lost.
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  It's like at some point your, your grief and your, your
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  memories is really all you have to really hold on to.
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  And, and so, you know, I think it's just important to remember
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  that it's not just this event that happens that you live
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  through it and then you move on to the next thing.
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  It's like it's something you have to learn to just live with
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  and embrace. And it's actually a very healing
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  process to, to live into the grief.
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  I, I used to think that, you know, it's like you had to move
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  on from something and let yourself heal and just let time
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  do its thing. But I, I figured out with my,
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  with my dad's journey, you know, it actually became more painful
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  like as I got older, when I got married, when I had my daughter,
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  when like all these milestones in life, when he wasn't there,
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  it actually was the pain just sort of kept compounding on
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  itself because you just, you feel the void more and more and
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  more instead of less and less and less.
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  And so I just had to learn, you know, this is, this is a part of
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  my life, this is a part of my story.
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  And instead of trying to just move past it, I'm just going to
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  embrace it and let it be what it is and let it just have its
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  place in my life. And it was actually through that
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  process that I really started to experience healing, and I was
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  able to truly heal from the experience and not feel like my
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  soul was just bleeding all the time.
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  But I was able to have the wounds and the scars, but learn
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  how to live with the wounds. And it's through that brokenness
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  that I think God shines through those wounds.
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  And I think that's where we really start to see the beauty
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  and the healing take place. And, you know, just not allowing
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  ourselves to avoid grief, not allowing ourselves to run from
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  it or to stifle it, but to truly like lean in and just go all the
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  way there because it's usually at rock bottom, because once you
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  hit rock bottom, the only place to go is up.
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  And so if you try to avoid hitting rock bottom, you'll, you
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  know, you, you kind of run the risk of, you know, you're just
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  going to kind of always be falling.
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  But if you just allow yourself to just fall into the arms of
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  Jesus, like he will be there at rock bottom and he will begin to
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  heal your heart. And that's where you really see
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  his presence and feel His presence.
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  I also heard something recently that I really loved the way it
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  was. It was stated it talked about
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  not minimizing ARC because I know I ran into this and I hope
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  this can. I hope some of your listeners
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  can identify with this. You know, even even with
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  something like miscarriage, you know, everyone, there's all
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  different stages and levels and types And like just the way that
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  people go through it, it's, it's like, you know, some people
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  have, you could argue like, well, that was so much more
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  traumatic than that, you know, and you go through different
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  things and it just, that is so not helpful.
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  You know, like we don't need to compare like there's no purpose
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  in that whatsoever. And I just, I've run into that a
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  lot with as I've talked with women and they're like, well,
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  it's nothing compared. So I'm like, no, no, no, like
• 20:50
  your story is your story and what you go through, like you
• 20:54
  carry it and we all carry, we all carry it.
• 20:57
  And so it doesn't matter any of the specifics.
• 21:01
  It's like the heartbreak is the heartbreak and period.
• 21:05
  And so I think that's been a big thing too.
• 21:08
  It's just truly learning how to, how to look into your own story
• 21:12
  and, and see, you know, the things that have happened to you
• 21:16
  and really allow yourself to name them for what they are and
• 21:21
  give them the weight that they carry.
• 21:23
  And not just try to minimize it or, or, you know, treat it like
• 21:26
  it's, it's, it doesn't matter because it does matter.
• 21:29
  And it you know, the things that happened to us, if we don't know
• 21:33
  how to process them and grieve them and carry them well, then
• 21:36
  they will just eat away at us from the inside and just wreak
• 21:40
  so much havoc in our heart over the long haul.
• 21:43
  And so it does matter. Our stories do matter, and they
• 21:46
  matter to the Lord. Thank you, Shelly.
• 21:49
  And it's. Yeah, we, you know, what's
• 21:52
  interesting is after going through such, you know, a
• 21:55
  significant, you know, grief with losing a child, right at
• 21:59
  any stage or age, and like we're all walking the same staircase,
• 22:03
  just different color steps, right?
• 22:05
  But The thing is, like, we learn how to intentionally live and we
• 22:08
  learn about how precious life is.
• 22:10
  And it is living with both, you know, 'cause like you said, like
• 22:14
  we're moving forward, we're not moving on, but we're learning
• 22:17
  how to put one step in front of the other again, because now
• 22:20
  we're a different changed person because we just lost someone so
• 22:24
  significant to us. And so how do we do that, right?
• 22:27
  And each time, like, I know I need different coping skills or
• 22:31
  I need different things that work for me, you know, and to
• 22:36
  really sit and process with to be able to get through like, you
• 22:40
  know, to work to a place that, OK, like I can talk about it or
• 22:44
  I can, you know, getting to, you know, not be down in the doom
• 22:49
  and gloom like you're saying, like where we just keep falling
• 22:51
  instead of just allowing ourselves to fully process it,
• 22:54
  be with our feelings, sit with it and really learn to, you
• 22:58
  know, how to pick one ourselves up.
• 23:01
  And I think it's, you know, having a community of people,
• 23:03
  having those that understand and really, you know, yeah, outside
• 23:08
  of, you know, your faith and things like that as well.
• 23:11
  Yeah, absolutely. Well, that's the other thing is,
• 23:13
  you know, we were, we're made in the image of God.
• 23:17
  And when you look at the image of God, like he's Father, son
• 23:20
  and Holy Spirit, like he's not, he's not alone.
• 23:23
  Like he, he enjoys community, you know, and so he created us
• 23:27
  to enjoy community and to enjoy having people with us.
• 23:31
  We're not meant to just do life alone and suffer alone and cry
• 23:35
  alone and do this alone. And so there's so much value in
• 23:38
  carrying our each other's burdens and walking through
• 23:41
  stuff with people. And that's, I think one of the
• 23:44
  most beautiful, beautiful fruits that we see from going through
• 23:48
  grief is that we, we gain an empathy and an understanding for
• 23:52
  other people that you can only gain when you, when you go
• 23:56
  through it yourself. And so when you go through
• 23:57
  something, you now have an empathy and understanding for
• 24:01
  other people who are going through stuff.
• 24:02
  And then that now creates this beautiful community.
• 24:05
  And it's beautiful two way interaction where you get to
• 24:09
  encourage someone else, You get to be there for someone else,
• 24:11
  you get to be a listening ear for someone else who's gone
• 24:14
  through it. And that is an intangible value
• 24:17
  of just bring so much comfort and so much healing when you
• 24:20
  know you don't have to walk through it alone and you know
• 24:23
  that there's other people who don't don't just hear and
• 24:26
  understand what you're saying, but have actually lived it and
• 24:28
  carried the same weight of pain that you have carried.
• 24:33
  Yeah. The Venus of it.
• 24:34
  Yeah, so I. Feel like, too, when you get
• 24:37
  with, you know, in a room with someone and you all of a sudden
• 24:40
  have that instinct connection to one another and almost cut your
• 24:43
  pain down a little bit too when you're like, in those moments
• 24:47
  because, yeah, that human nature of woman action, yeah.
• 24:51
  There's something about knowing you're not alone that relieves
• 24:55
  the burden just a little bit, makes it easier to bear.
• 24:58
  Yeah, absolutely. What is on the horizon for you
• 25:03
  with your music? You know, what have you been
• 25:05
  working on or anything you want to share with us?
• 25:08
  We. Yeah, yeah.
• 25:11
  So I, I actually have a new song that I just finished writing
• 25:17
  that it's called Better Story and it's kind of.
• 25:20
  So last last couple years my husband walked through a pretty
• 25:24
  intense job wilderness. He was, he was laid off from a
• 25:27
  company where he worked for 22 years.
• 25:29
  They were laying off like 10s of thousands of people's like this
• 25:32
  mass company thing. And so it wasn't personal, but
• 25:35
  it felt very personal because, you know, he poured his heart
• 25:37
  and soul into this place for 22 years.
• 25:39
  And then they were just like, no thanks, see ya.
• 25:42
  So that was pretty devastating. And I walked through that with
• 25:45
  him. And there was a point in that,
• 25:48
  in that journey where, you know, after about a year and still no
• 25:52
  job, still no answer to prayer, still just silence from the
• 25:55
  Lord. You know, he really started to
• 25:57
  get discouraged. And he told me one day, he said,
• 26:00
  you know, I feel like Joseph in the book of Genesis, that I feel
• 26:04
  like Joseph sitting in prison waiting for the cupbearer to
• 26:07
  remember my name. And that just was such a
• 26:11
  profound picture in my mind when he said that of just how that
• 26:16
  must have felt for Joseph, you know, when he was going through
• 26:19
  life and successful and everything.
• 26:21
  You know, he's running Potiphar's house and he's doing
• 26:23
  what he's supposed to do. And he's being obedient, he's
• 26:25
  being faithful. He's doing the right thing.
• 26:27
  And then out of nowhere, you know, he's falsely accused by
• 26:30
  Potiphar's wife and he's thrown in the dungeon and he's just
• 26:33
  almost like forgotten about. And just all this time goes by
• 26:37
  and he's sitting down there in prison just with all this
• 26:39
  gifting and all this leadership ability, and he's just sitting
• 26:42
  there just feeling totally forgotten.
• 26:45
  And that's how my husband felt, you know, just felt like he had
• 26:47
  been kind of cast out for not doing anything wrong.
• 26:49
  And then now here he is just waiting.
• 26:52
  And it's interesting because we were reading in Genesis the
• 26:56
  story of Joseph. And it says after two full years
• 26:59
  passed, the cupbearer, remember Joseph.
• 27:02
  And then after that happened, Joseph was restored to, you
• 27:05
  know, his position and all that. But it's interesting, he said
• 27:07
  after two full years passed. And for my husband, like
• 27:10
  literally from the day he got laid off until the day he got
• 27:15
  his job offer was exactly 2 years to the day.
• 27:18
  And it just was such a picture of like that was his Joseph
• 27:22
  season. And it was just so crazy the way
• 27:24
  the Lord was so faithful. So I wrote a song about it
• 27:26
  called Joseph song. And it's just AI mean.
• 27:29
  It's a it's a heavy song, but it's just, you know, you're
• 27:32
  sitting in that moment of like, you're asking God, like, do you
• 27:34
  see me? Do you Remember Me?
• 27:36
  Have you forgotten me? Do you know that I'm still here,
• 27:38
  you know, kind of thing. And so this this next song I've
• 27:41
  been working on is, is really just a deeply personal song for
• 27:44
  me that I feel like is kind of the sequel of that song.
• 27:48
  It just talks about the better story that God is always
• 27:50
  writing, that he's always writing a better story than what
• 27:54
  we can see at the moment. And we just have to trust him to
• 27:57
  hold the pen and to hold the pages and to to write the story
• 28:01
  the way that he wants to write it.
• 28:03
  And so I'm excited. I haven't totally finished it
• 28:05
  yet, but that's probably going to be my next release on the
• 28:08
  horizon. So be on the lookout for a song
• 28:10
  called Better Story, hopefully in the near future.
• 28:14
  Absolutely. Thank you, Shelly.
• 28:16
  Of course can't. Thank you enough for coming on
• 28:19
  here for sharing, you know, about your music and you know
• 28:22
  how much music means to you because I mean, obviously it's
• 28:26
  been a very intricate part of your, your life's journey and
• 28:31
  through so much heartache and, you know, pain and things like
• 28:34
  that. So, you know, what do you want
• 28:36
  to leave our listeners with in general about loss, music or
• 28:40
  anything? Yeah.
• 28:41
  No, I would just say keep trusting in the Lord.
• 28:45
  Just keep running to Him, no matter.
• 28:48
  No matter if you don't have words or not, no matter how deep
• 28:50
  the pain, just keep running to Him, whatever that looks like
• 28:54
  for you. However you can, keep reaching
• 28:56
  out to the Lord, keep drawing near to Him, and just trust that
• 29:00
  he, he will be near and He will draw near to you.
• 29:02
  It's a promise. And I've seen him be true to
• 29:05
  that in my own lifetime, after time after time.
• 29:08
  So I just want to encourage all of you to keep trusting in Him,
• 29:10
  no matter how dark the night may be.
• 29:15
  Well, thank you, Shelly, and thank you so much for being
• 29:17
  here, for being, you know, rolling real with us and your
• 29:20
  courage to Share your story, your pain, and your healing
• 29:23
  journey through music. It's just such a gift and one
• 29:26
  that just keeps on giving. Thank you.
• 29:29
  Thank you. Yeah, for our listeners out
• 29:31
  there, if you're walking, you know, through your own grief
• 29:34
  right now. And I hope today's episode
• 29:35
  reminds you that you're not alone.
• 29:37
  As Shelley's music shows us, there is beauty and brokenness,
• 29:40
  and sometimes the most powerful healing comes from simply
• 29:43
  letting yourself feel it all. You can find Shelly's latest
• 29:46
  album. We'll make sure to put your
• 29:48
  music below in the bio so people can find you, Shelly.
• 29:52
  And trust me, it's, you know, worth listening to and checking
• 29:55
  out. And until next time, be kind to
• 29:58
  your heart. Let it cry out loud when it
• 29:59
  needs to. And remember, healing isn't
• 30:01
  linear, but it is possible. And I'm Bernice, your host of
• 30:05
  Cried Out Loud. Take care.