HeyJaredThe Next Podcast: Moving Forward with Grief and Loss
Welcome to The NEXT Podcast with Jay Cookingham—a heartfelt journey through grief, loss, and healing. After the devastating loss of his wife Christine, Jay shares his raw, honest reflections on navigating life without her.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 5
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- Sep 21, 2026
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- Jul 21, 2026
Latest episodes
Episode 68: The Things Grief Doesn’t Take (opens the original)
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Grief takes a lot. It can take a person, a marriage, a future we thought we were going to have, familiar routines, dreams, confidence, and sometimes even our sense of who we are. But grief doesn’t get everything. In this episode, I’m thinking about the things grief didn’t take from me—and the things it doesn’t have the authority to take from you. Grief didn’t take God. It didn’t take my identity in Christ. It didn’t take my ability to love. It didn’t take my voice. It didn’t take every possibili
Episode 67: Who Do You Need? (opens the original)
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After losing Christine, Jay realized he hadn’t just lost his wife—he had lost his person. The one he automatically turned to, shared life with, and allowed to know him deeply. In this episode, Jay talks honestly about the uncomfortable realization that he needs people. Not someone to replace Christine, but people who can occupy new and different places in his life. He explores the tension between isolation and connection, the lie that protecting ourselves is the same as healing, and what it mean
Episode 66: Behind the Tough Face (opens the original)
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We’ve all heard the phrase "be strong," but what happens when strength becomes a mask we use to hide our weariness, pain, and grief? In this episode of The NEXT Podcast, host Jay Cookingham dives deep into the heavy, unspoken burden of carrying a "tough face”. Drawing from his own visceral experience standing in a receiving line for over two hours at his late wife Christine's memorial service, where he found himself comforting others instead of being comforted. If you've ever felt the pressure t
Episode 65: Learning to Receive Again (opens the original)
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After deep loss, grief doesn't just teach us how to let go—it often teaches us to hold back. We become cautious with joy. We hesitate to dream. We struggle to receive kindness, hope, or even moments of peace because our hearts have learned what it feels like to lose someone we love. In this episode, Jay reflects on a surprising lesson from his own grief journey: learning to receive again. Through the tender story of holding his newborn grandson for the very first time, Jay shares how joy and sor
Episode 64: The Loss of Being Known (opens the original)
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Grief doesn't just take the person you love—it can also take the one person who knew you most deeply. In this deeply personal episode, Jay reflects on one of the hidden losses of widowhood: losing the person who witnessed your heart, spoke life into your calling, and reminded you of who you were becoming. After sharing updates from a season filled with transition—including preparing to step away from pastoring, writing new books, and welcoming a new grandson—Jay explores how grief quietly attack
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