Let's Chat... Grief and belief (with Matt McChlery)

#084. Let's Chat... facing loss and a life-threatening illness, and the effect it can have on your faith.In these Let’s Chat episodes, I (Claire Sandys) chat one-to-one with a guest who has lived experience or expertise in a particular area of grief.In this episode I’m talking to Matt McChlery who is a worship leader, podcaster, author, song-writer, father and husband (among other things), from East Anglia in the UK.In 2016 Matt and his wife lost an unborn child in an ectopic pregnancy, and then he was diagnosed with cancer; Stage Four Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.  These traumatic experiences led him to write the book ‘Standing in the Storm: Living with Faith and Cancer’. Matt openly talks about what it looks like to balance faith with a devastating cancer diagnosis, the questions he grappled with, and how his faith was stretched but also grew through his illness. This conversation opens up some big subjects; Where is God when we suffer? What does it look like to believe in a God even when things are falling apart? Can you have a relationship with God? Is He more than a big, mean judge? Why does He allow these things to happen in our lives?I’ve spoken to a lot of people about loss, and it's only natural that faith and God crop up a lot in the most tragic times we face, whether that's having faith, losing faith, no faith, don’t want faith, wish you had faith, or confused by faith. There's an inherent urge in us when we face something awful to reach to something bigger for help, to want to plead to a higher being for ourselves or on behalf of others. Why is that? Join Matt and me to find out.For more about Matt, his speaking, books, songs etc, you can visit: https://www.mattmcchlery.comFor his podcast, Christian Book Blurb: https://www.Christianbookblurb.podbean.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattmcchleryFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/mattmcchleryminSend us Fan MailSupport the show-----thesilentwhy.com  |  Instagram  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  LinkedIn What's a Herman? / Buy a Herman - thehermancompany.comSupport the show: buymeacoffee.com/thesilentwhySign-up to my mailing list (only used for sharing news occasionally!): thesilentwhy.com/newsletterHow to talk to the grieving:  thesilentwhy.com/post/howtotalktothegrievingReview the show: Apple Podcasts  |  Spotify  |  GoodpodsEpisode transcripts: thesilentwhy.buzzsprout.comThank you for listening.