Every now and then I face adversity that takes me into a dark place where I wonder what happened. There is never a time that I question God’s presence, but the emotional trauma of the circumstance engulfs me. I am normally a very positive person and my attitude is optimistic. However, there have been occasions when I felt so overwhelmed that I became so angry I experienced rage.
In just a few days is the 14th anniversary of the death of my son, David, who was serving the Lord in Chennai, India. The anger and helplessness I experienced that night was unlike anything I had ever gone through before. As the minutes went by and I shared the news with my wife, Linda, I had thrown the phone to the floor and it shattered. After a while I began to refocus on the Lord and as I held Linda close I realized that there was nothing I could do. He was only forty-two years old with a wife and four children. The last time we saw them he seemed the happiest we could remember. And suddenly, all we had were the wonderful memories of his beautiful life.
Today, as I reflect back on the days, weeks and months that followed I can honestly tell you that the pain, sorrow and darkness of that time cannot compare with the glory and fruit that arose out of the ashes of that experience. My wife and I are closer than ever before and the trauma of that experience has made us stronger. Since that time we have faced other forms of adversity but God’s grace has always been sufficient for the challenges we have had to endure.