A wife and mother did not feel well while her husband was away on a business trip. She called to tell him she did not feel well and scheduled an appointment with a doctor. The diagnosis was given and a very expensive medicine prescribed. She could not afford the medication and went home to take over the counter stuff. The husband made his way back home being several hours from home. He tried to call his wife repeatedly, but got no answer. He called a relative to do a wellness check. The wife was found unconscious and taken to the hospital by ambulance. She died just a few minutes before the husband walked into the hospital room. He is enduring the loss of his soulmate trying his best to raise children without her. Tragic.
A husband battled severe depression. He got so low he tried to take his own life. He got institutionalized. He does not remember much about that time except being medicated and sedated. When he finally got well enough to be released, he discovered his wife left him for someone else, most of his possessions were gone, he had no job, and his driver's license was revoked.
Tears welled up in his eyes as he relayed his story, and how abandoned he felt by his wife. He reminds himself that if Jesus can forgive him, he needs to forgive his wife and not become bitter.
A teenage boy got in his Jeep one Friday for a night of partying with friends. He went to a beer bash and got drunk. On the way home that night he crashed. His friends could not get him out before the Jeep burst into flames. That young man burned to death while his friends watched helplessly. In one night with one phone call parents and siblings experienced tragedy and sorrow beyond desciption. The what if questions linger. What if they had not let him go out that night? What if they known his intentions that fatal night?
She sat in my office to tell a sad tale. She met a guy in high school and went on a date. He wanted to date her and go steady. She refused unless he would go to church with her. He did. All through their dating years he dutifully sat by her side. He proposed and she accepted. They were wed, and he quit attending worship gatherings with her. They had three children. Well over two decades later he informed her he did not love her anymore and found someone else. He divorced her and she sat in grief with tears flowing freely telling me. His decree for divorce caught her totally off guard.
She eventually met another man and remarried. Tragedy struck again. She got diagnosed with a brain tumor and eventually lost her battle. She had only been remarried happily for a very short while.
Tragedies strike families.
The Bible predicts those things will happen.
John 16:33 (ESV)
33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Matthew 7:24-27 (ESV)
24
24
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine
and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
Storms come. Tragedies show up unexpectedly. Lives and families built on a foundation of personal relationship with Jesus, and the rock of His word can survive. It is not easy, but they came make it through the pain. Such tragedies in unbelievers can be so devastating they never recover. Many try to hide the pain with addictions that serve only to make matters worse.
I hope none of you has to go through tragedy. If you are forced to, I pray you find a rock hard foundation in Jesus and His word to get you through.
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