What is a miracle?
The dictionary often defines a miracle as an extraordinary event—something that defies explanation or logic. For many of us who have lost a child, that definition can feel painfully incomplete. This week’s episode gently asks us to reconsider what a miracle might look like after unimaginable loss.
I knew the day Andy was killed in our car accident that I was praying for a miracle. I begged as the paramedics worked, believing with everything in me that he could be saved. But Andy was not revived, and the miracle I was asking for did not come.
Today’s guest, Renee, understands that kind of prayer deeply. She is the mother of Patrick, who died at the age of 29 after a fall while hiking in the mountains of Colorado. When Patrick didn’t return from his hike, Renee waited, hoped, and prayed—holding onto the belief that he would be found alive. When he was discovered, her prayers, too, had not been answered in the way she longed for.
Patrick loved the mountains—the wide-open spaces, the quiet, the beauty that invites reflection. In many ways, his life reflected that same openness and depth. Renee speaks of him with tenderness and honesty, carrying both the love of who he was and the ache of who he is no longer here to be.
And yet—now, four and a half years later—Renee offers a perspective that stopped me in my tracks. She believes that the grief journey itself is a miracle.
As bereaved parents, it often feels impossible that we could continue living after our children die. The days feel unbearable. The weight feels crushing. And yet, somehow, we wake up. We breathe. We keep going. We love. We remember. We persevere.
Renee’s story invites us to see survival not as something small or expected, but as something extraordinary. Perhaps the miracle is not the one we prayed for in the moment of crisis—but the quiet, daily miracle of continuing to live in a world forever changed.
This episode is a tender, honest conversation about loss, faith, resilience, and the unexpected ways meaning can slowly emerge after devastation. If you are walking this road of grief, you are not alone. And if today all you did was get through the day—that, too, may be a miracle.
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