Quirks, Bumps, and Bruises
Take a trip with the Morning JoyRide®️as Candi and Melody discuss the humorous side of real issues facing families today.
Quirks, Bumps, and Bruises
When Heaven Feels Close: Karen Peck's Journey Through Loss
Karen Peck joins the Morning JoyRide for a heartfelt conversation about grief, hope, and faith. She shares the story behind her upcoming album Good Answers, inspired by her mother’s final words before passing: “I pray to God and God gives good answers.” Just a week later, Karen faced another tragedy—the loss of her best friend Kelly Nelon in a plane crash—deeply shaping her music and faith. Through tears and hope, she reflects on the nearness of heaven, the comfort of family, and the truth that we were never meant to carry burdens alone. Her story offers a powerful reminder this Easter season: in life’s hardest moments, God still gives good answers. Subscribe now for more conversations blending everyday life with deep spiritual insight.
Hi, I'm Melody and I'm Candy and you're listening to Quirks, bumps and Bruises. Good morning and welcome to Joy FM. Welcome to the Morning, joy Ride. It is Melody, along with you, as always, and Candy's still going to be out a bit with that sweet new baby. But I have someone that I adore on the phone with me today. We actually have not talked in so long and I just want to hug her. It's Karen Peck. Hey, karen.
Speaker 2:Hey, my friend, you know what? I'm hugging you through the phone. I miss y'all. I know I miss talking to y'all, but you know what? We have been friends for so long and I just appreciate y'all because you know we just have so much in common with. You know our families and grandbabies, and now Candy's got a baby girl and I'm so happy for her and I hope she's listening. And, candy, I love you and congratulations and wow, so much is going on. But God has been so good and faithful.
Speaker 1:Fill us in on Karen Beck and New River. What do y'all got going on? I know it's always something all the time, so go ahead and just tell us what's happening going on.
Speaker 2:I know it's always something all the time, so go ahead and just tell us what's happening. Well, we have a new record that's coming out in May. It's called Good Answers, and I'm very, very excited about this. It has the songs that I know you've been playing Be Ready and also that's what Faith Looks Like. Both of those, yeah, thank you for playing those songs. And so this is the longest we've ever taken getting a new record out.
Speaker 2:But our mom had been very sick last year and then she passed in July, and two weeks before Mama passed she said I pray to God and God gives good answers, and we put that in her obituary and it stayed with me for so long that I got with songwriters Kenna West and Jimmy Urie and we wrote the song God Gives Good Answers. Oh, that's awesome, and it's the first song on the track, and so we decided to name the album Good Answers. And then, of course, kelly Nealon and her family passed away the next week, and so it was just the week after Mama had passed. Kelly was at the funeral of mamas and it was just. You know, it was a series of just life, just dealing with grief and devastation, and started writing more songs that are on this record as well. So it's. You know it's been a process, but god's been good and faithful to help us through it.
Speaker 1:Oh, I know so much happening, but I've got to stop you right now because we haven't talked in so so long and so I have to ask you first thing about those grandbabies.
Speaker 2:Out of my mind. I am completely, utterly committed by those babies.
Speaker 1:Oh, and I know, because we kind of followed suit my family with yours, and so I've got the two boys, though oh, how sweet. One is blonde haired and blue eyed and the other one is black haired and black eyed. It's hilarious.
Speaker 2:How sweet, oh, and you're never the same, I know.
Speaker 1:No, you know, I think you and I have talked about this. Before they tell you that you know, before you have grandkids, they'll say you just can't explain it. You can't explain it, and you know, you think, well, how different could it be? And it is.
Speaker 2:I know it is absolutely the most glorious thing.
Speaker 1:And yesterday I went to see them just for a minute and when I walked in they started screaming and running toward me and I went this is heaven, this is just a little part of heaven right here, and mine call me, uh me, mommy, and so when they say I love you, me mommy, I mean they can have anything.
Speaker 2:They want anything oh, anything, anything, I mean it's, that's it. They just melt your heart oh, oh, they absolutely do.
Speaker 1:There's just nothing like them, that's for sure. Well, let's change topics a little bit. Hearing your music touches so many hearts in so many different kinds of ways. I was talking to a listener a little bit ago and his name is Randy and he said please tell her how much she has meant to me in my life, and so you and your family have certainly just made such a positive difference in so many lives.
Speaker 2:Tell Randy I said thank you.
Speaker 1:I will. I will, let me ask you this, because I know that grief can be such a hard thing, a very unique thing as well, and I know I lost my mom about six years ago, so I know what that feels like losing a mom. There is just something that you can't explain. When you lose your mom and then you, of course, lost I guess, kelly was she your very best friend?
Speaker 2:Kelly was. She was absolutely that friend. That was a sister. We had a 43-year-slash-friendship sisterhood and, matter of fact, we were texting the day that they were leaving and that we were both leaving and some of us artists were trying to see out of Washington to board a Bill and Gloria Gaither Alaska crew, and so we were just texting on the Thursday before we were leaving. On Friday we were texting you know what are we going to wear? You know, take a coat, it's going to be cold up there, just those kind of things. And I don't know what to pack, you know. And she said well, I'm going to go get my coat right now and pack it. And then the next morning I texted her and she left my text. And then that afternoon is when their plane went down, and so they all perished, except for her one daughter, autumn, which was flying commercial with her husband because she's expecting a baby. But then, autumn, she wound up having her baby on Kelly's birthday, on December 1st. So that was so sweet.
Speaker 1:That was a God moment there.
Speaker 2:That was a God moment it was and I can see how the Lord is helping her. I mean, there are so many families that are affected.
Speaker 2:I mean Amber would have been 36 years old last month and her husband, nathan, I mean his family, you know, they're good families, you know, and all of these people, and Melody that was, you know, she was from North Carolina actually, but she was a friend, you know, to all of us and she worked hard with kelly and their family as their assistant. So it was just. There was just a lot going on and uh. But one thing that I learned about grief at oh, and about your mom, I will say this I don't think I've ever experienced anything as so heartbreaking as losing a mother. There's just, you know, with that, because your mom is part of you and it's like part of my heart has gone with her.
Speaker 2:And then with Kelly, with you know, with seeing, you know, one of my dearest friends and, you know, gone. So suddenly it was just devastating. But one thing that I've discovered about grief is that God did not create us carry burdens, and that's why he says to cast our cares upon him, because he cares for us and we are never to bear these burdens alone, and so that's why, you know, it's really been a process, but God has been so faithful. Honestly, it's just a daily thing of just praying and staying connected with him and knowing that if he allows it to happen. He will get you through it.
Speaker 1:Yes, and just knowing that, oh, we will one day see them again, it keeps everything kind of in perspective as well. We have Karen. A lot of our listeners here have gone through grief with losing spouses and family members. We just recently finished our fundraiser and so many call in and give in memory of someone or in honor of someone, and I'm just astounded at how many parents were giving in memory of their children and because it's not supposed to happen that way, and they tell us that they just struggle with with grief. And I know and I don't know if you have gone through this or not but grief can kind of hit you out of nowhere. You'll be having just a normal day and you're just trying to do your thing and get all done that is required of that day, and then I will smell a pound cake and my mother was known for her pound cakes. Or I will see someone with a beautiful handwriting my mother was known for that with a beautiful handwriting. My mother was known for that.
Speaker 2:But something will just trigger a moment a smell a song and it will just wash over you. I don't know if you've experienced that yet. Yeah, it does. I mean it would be in way. And you know it was like, oh my goodness. But you know I had finally got over the last few days, last maybe three weeks that I wasn't crying every day.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then, just lo and behold, this week I was driving through where my hometown and I was headed for an appointment and went by where mama was staying and, oh man, it just everything just flooded it washes you, it just washes over you it washes over you that's a good way to put it and it was like my goodness, it was it. You know it was hard. So this past week I've had a really hard week. This week just missing, missing, mama.
Speaker 1:So so much and I think during the times of holidays too, with uh getting through christmas and now easter's coming up and holidays were and thanksgiving were huge parts of our family and my mom was the center of that. You know, she was the, she was kind of the one that you know planned the meals and the get-togethers and cooked a lot of it as well, and so it was mama and one thing is, mama had a, an azalea bush that is in her front yard and it was just actually turned into a tree.
Speaker 2:It was so beautiful and every year it has this vibrant pink colors and she would always, every year, say my tree's blooming, and so would always take pictures of it or have pictures outside with her in front of her tree. And our sister, sandra, texted Susan and me, uh, last week and said mama's tree's blooming and so, and sent a picture of it and it was like and I'm thinking, mama loves flowers so much, but I wonder what the flowers smell like in heaven. And I wrote a song about it after mama passed, called mama knows, and it's really sweet. I mean it's just, you know, because I wonder what the manna tastes like, because it went in heaven. We cannot even comprehend how wonderful heaven is no and.
Speaker 2:But you know, one day we'll, we'll know.
Speaker 1:But mama knows and heaven is so close because she's there and kelly's there and her family's there I mean heaven, it just feels very close yes, yes, I, I agree, and uh, again, that's uh just maybe some encouraging words to those that are listening today here on joy fm. If you're going through that time that, uh, I can't say that it gets easier because I don't know that it does, but time does tend to heal some of those really deep wounds. But, thank goodness, you had a wonderful mother. I did not ever get the opportunity to meet her, but the way you would write about her and social media and that kind of thing I was able to just, and she was beautiful, by the way, what a beautiful lady you would have loved her.
Speaker 2:She was so funny, I mean just so much fun. And her laugh, I mean we would get hysterical in places. We weren't supposed to be laughing and it was just. It was great.
Speaker 2:But one thing I want to say for those that are listening just remember that God has a different perspective on death than we do, because when a believer, when a believer, passes over, when they cross over, it's just the beginning of life.
Speaker 2:So really, the way I mean we see, we feel like it's an ending, and it may be an ending on this earth, but it's just the beginning of eternal life, ending on this earth, but it's just the beginning of eternal life. And it's so important that we all are sure that we are saved, that we are secure with the Lord. And that's why this station's here to play songs of faith and hope and salvation and to remind you that the scripture says the only way to get to heaven is through the blood of Jesus, that if we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, then we have a place in heaven. So I just want to encourage any of you that if you're questioning I don't know if I'm saved or not, well then, just you know, talk to the Lord and just or get with a preacher or get with someone that you know prays and can help lead you to the Lord, but you can do it right where you are.
Speaker 2:You can just pray, lord, you know praise that can help lead you to the Lord, and but you can do it right where you are you can just pray, lord, I you know, I realize I'm a sinner and I can't save myself, but I know you can and please come into my heart and forgive me of my sin and save me, and you know, and be Lord of my life and then live for him and get in a good, bible-based church and learn more about Jesus. But I just wanted to throw this out there, because that is really why we do what we do.
Speaker 2:That's why Joy FM is doing what they do and that's why Karen Peck and Me River and all of these other ministries are out here telling people about the Lord, because time is running out.
Speaker 1:And we never know.
Speaker 2:You never know when you're going to take your last breath.
Speaker 1:And what a beautiful season of the year to do just that, to invite him into your life. This Easter season, where we, as Christians this is our time where we celebrate the risen Savior. And I can't think of a more beautiful time than this season, particularly as we are into Holy Week, to be able to say, I know with certainty that I will spend eternity with Him. Amen, karen, thank you. I pray that all good things happen for you and your family, and for Karen Peck and New River. You are absolutely one of our favorites. We adore you.
Speaker 2:Thank you, I adore y'all.
Speaker 3:Thanks for listening to the Quirks Bumps Bruises podcast with Candy and Melody. If you enjoyed the show, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and share the podcast. You can learn more at joyfmorg.
