Why Radio Host Delilah Rene Has Hope After Sons’ Deaths
By Movieguide® Contributor
Radio host Delilah Rene says she doesn’t “fear death” but has found “anticipation in being with” her sons who died.
“I don’t know if I’ve found the purpose in the pain of losing my boys,” she said in an interview with Woman’s World. “You can’t find purpose in the loss of a child. But what I have found is anticipation in being with them again, which changes everything.”
Rene lost her son Sammy after a battle with sickle cell anemia in 2012. In 2017, her son Zachariah died by suicide. Two years later, her stepson Ryan passed away.
The radio star explained that country singer Rory Feek gave her “that gift” of anticipation.
“He said, ‘Your boys are a part of your future, not a part of your past.’ Before that I was just thinking of the here and now, and I got angry. I’m like, ‘They don’t have a future, they’re gone.’ Yes, they’re gone, but they’re in Heaven, and now I can look forward to it with anticipation.”
Rene continued, “I don’t fear death. I’m not rushing headlong into it because I’ve got a 7-year-old that I need to raise. But I look forward to that day with so much anticipation, and that changes everything.”
In an interview with People, Rene elaborated on the conversation with Feek.
She remembered he told her, “Because you know where they are and because your hope is in the Lord, you know you’ll be with them again. So now you will look forward to that day with great anticipation. You won’t ever fear death again. You will look forward to it, because you know where they are.”
“And that was such a huge gift,” the radio host recalled. “It reframed everything, that one little conversation, and gave me the hope and something to look forward to. But while I’m here, I want to be as effective as I can as a mom, as a broadcaster, as a friend. And so I got to keep moving forward.”
Rene previously spoke about her faith, saying, “My faith in God is so important to me and gives me so much joy and hope.”
Movieguide® previously reported on the role faith has played in Rene’s life:
“My relationship with God formally started when I was in my 20s,” she said. “I went through a really sad period in my life where I lost my brother and his wife. I lost my husband. He walked out on me and moved in with his girlfriend. And then I lost my job at a radio station.”
“[God] is right there in the seat next to you when you’re driving in your car, when you’re driving to work, when you’re at work, when you’re involved in negotiations,” she added about her relationship with God.