When I wrote my last blog a couple weeks ago about “bad things,” I had no idea I would be sitting in church the following Sunday, listening to an amazing story filled with pain, sorrow, and faith.
It got me thinking about what I didn’t discuss in that blog—the faith it takes to rely on God during hard times. In 2 Corinthians 4:18 it says, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since that is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
After getting his permission, here is the abbreviated version of the story I heard that Sunday:
Here is a guy who had this massive love for God and was doing everything to follow Jesus. His teenage daughter was involved in a horrible accident as a passenger in a car that left her fighting for her life in a hospital. Years later at the age of 21, that same daughter was killed in a car accident. Along the way, he went through a divorce, and all the other difficult things that life can hit us with.
This man is a living example of what I had written about. He uses his story to bring comfort to others. His story is unique, yet one that people can relate to.
As a father of two, the idea of ever loosing one of my children—having them pass away in front of me—is inconceivable. What this man has been through pulled at my heart. While I have the perspective to go into hard situations with the mindset that God is bigger and He has a plan, it’s sometimes difficult to stand firm in that hope.
My world has been turned upside-down in different ways over the last few years, but I was able to hold on to that faith. Hearing this man’s story was encouraging because even though it’s hard, and even though every situation is different, Jesus continues to be faithful. That is holding true to what is unseen.
Fixing our eyes on what is unseen, “what is unseen is eternal.” This is the message of hope that can come from tragedy. This is the hope that only a relationship with Jesus can bring. This is the hope that God of Hope was designed to share.
Great and glorious things can come out of the bad times, but when we can turn our pain into an opportunity to bring good to others, when we are focusing on what is unseen, this is when eternal differences can be made.
Keith Sampson
Executive Coordinator – God of Hope