This Doesn’t Have to Separate You From God

Published: October 7, 2025

faith — Photo by Megan Dujardin on Unsplash

By Michaela Gordoni

Kate Edwards suffered the tragic death of her son in 2020, but now she shares how she stays connected to God through her daily grief.

Edwards was working as an RN on the floor above her son Scotty when he was taken to the hospital where he died.

“Honestly, I don’t know what I would have done without God and Jesus,” Edwards shared on Annie F. Downs’ podcast. “I don’t know how people travel without hope.”

Downs said Edwards shared, “What she wishes she’d have heard in the midst of her early days of loss.”

Edwards went through grief counseling in 2020 but decided to go back this year, too.

“I thought, okay, well, I’m going to do it twofold. I’m going to do it one-on-one and I’m going to go back to group because I want to feel what other people feel. And it was interesting because some of those people were angry with God,” she recalled. “And honestly, I reflected and I said, ‘I never once blamed God.’”

“My journey, Scotty’s death, has brought me closer to God. I you know, and sometimes we’ll pray it in the in the evening and [my husband], Dwayne will say, ‘And Jesus, don’t forget to tell Scotty Gordon, you know, A, B and C.’ And sometimes it kind of makes me chuckle but then it makes me cry because who wouldn’t want to talk to the creator of the world about their kids both living and not here?”

“I find a lot of comfort in that,” Edwards said.

Downs grieved deeply when her nephew, T.J., passed away in 2022. On his death anniversary, she interviewed Granger Smith, a former country singer who lost his 3-year-old son.

“Guilt is a thief to steal your joy,” he told Downs on her podcast. But, “grief and joy can co-exist at the same time. There’s nothing wrong with laughing, just as there’s nothing wrong with crying.”

He talks about his healing process through his grief in his book, “Like a River.”

“I thought I could [do it] on my own with self-help and self-improvement and exercise and positivity and visualization, meditation and devotionals,” Smith explained previously. “I thought I could just mend it, fix it and move on, and I couldn’t.”

It wasn’t until he “surrendered to God” that he found any peace.  But just like Edwards, Smith eventually became closer to God because of his deep loss.

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