Hard things

Last week was a time for hard things. On Monday, a young couple called to say that a routine pre-natal checkup revealed that (at seven months) there was no heart beat. Up until then, there had been no problems. The mother-to-be is a nurse-in-training, and she has been as careful as a first-time mother should be. We went to the hospital, sat with them, cried with them, prayed with them. Labor was induced Monday night, and she finally delivered on Wednesday at noon. It was hard -- hard for her, hard for him, hard for all the wonderful family members that stayed with them, hard for everyone standing on the sidelines. Everyone wanted to know -- "What went wrong?" Then the hardest thing -- there was really no way to tell what went wrong. The baby looked fine; a sonogram revealed that everything was there and in its proper place. We expect to be able to know the answers to every question, the solution to every problem, and its hard to accept the fact that, often, we just won't ever know. Speaking of hard things -- the graveside service was held Saturday morning, and the mother and father were on time for Bible Class on Sunday morning, and they came back for evening services. God is good, they will heal, there will be more children -- but it will always be hard.

More hard things: I checked the Christian Chronicle website and saw an article publicizing the deaths of two missionaries. Dan Hardin was a pioneer and a mentor to many younger missionaries. When we were in school in the early '80s, we watched Dan cope with severe arthritis, thinking that he wouldn't be able to keep going much longer. He did, even though it was hard, and God used him to do good things for the kingdom.

Harder to read was the report of Cyndi Chowning's death in Benin. Though we had not been in close contact for several years, we still keep up a little with the Chownings. This death is really hard, because it was so senseless -- she stepped back after reaching into her vehicle to retrieve something and was struck by a motorcycle. My heart aches for Richard and for their children. I suspect that he will go on working with the people of Benin, teaching them about a God who loves them, but it will be hard.

So many things are hard -- but I can't help but think of passages like Romans 8 (God is for us; who can be against us?) and Isaiah 40 (those who wait for the Lord will renew their strength). God is a master (of course) at using hard things to make us stronger. By enduring the hard things, by actually facing them and walking through them, he makes us know more fully the joy of the good things. What a wonderful God we serve!