By 24, she had six children, including one who died shortly after birth. She
endured spousal abuse, financial difficulties, and then divorce. Mom became a
Christian and then remarried. Less than ten years later, her husband died of
cancer. I witnessed her clinging to her Savior even while filled with grief. She
had peace knowing the Lord would take care of her and that her husband was with Jesus. Then, Mom
was blessed to marry Tom, another wonderful man of God. Their love for the Lord and each other didn\u2019t
waver, even when he was diagnosed with cancer. It was hard to watch the struggle but so amazing to see
them trust the Lord every step of the way. Tom spoke at churches of God\u2019s faithfulness during the ordeal.
After 16 years together, he went home to be with the Lord. \u201c\u2026we are afflicted in every way, but not
crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed\u201d (2
6
Corinthians 4:8-9, NAS). Again, I watched Mom grieve as she moved through the process of letting go.
The peace that Jesus promises was there, alongside the pain and sadness. \u201cPeace I leave with you; My
peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your
heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.\u201d (John 14:27, NAS) So, when my
mother-in-law speaks about sweet sorrow, she speaks from experience. It\u2019s not
just a \u201cfluffing up\u201d in a difficult situation.
Little did I know that my husband and I would later have our own gutwrenching grief to endure. Our precious son, Jesse, died in 1992 at age 11. My
mother-in-law was beside us, demonstrating how to trust and obey God through
circumstances we could not humanly understand or bear alone. This
circumstance did not \u201cfeel\u201d like the love of God. But, there it was\u2014we could
not deny its existence. We all moved forward together. My mother-in-law was, once again, experiencing
a loss\u2014this time the loss of a grandson. The peace and love of God and His sweet presence was there
with the pain, questions, and confusion. Gradually, I decided to entrust my circumstances to God, and I
began to experience the peace that the Apostle Paul wrote about: \u201cBe anxious for nothing, but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And
the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ
Jesus.\u201d (Philippians 4:6-7, NAS).
The events of our lives do not determine the final outcome. God does. He sees far beyond the
situation, right into the eternal. He has a plan for each of us. We have to choose to trust Him with the
here-and-now that doesn\u2019t always make sense. There is a much bigger picture that we cannot see. When
you know \u201cwho\u201d holds the future, figuring out the \u201cwhy\u201d doesn\u2019t seem so important.
\u201cYou love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him
now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.\u201d (1 Peter
1:8, NLT).
As a child, I trusted my daddy to protect me. That trust came easy
when I was frightened during the night and he comforted me. However, I
wasn\u2019t so eager to trust him when I couldn\u2019t see his reasoning when he denied a
request. As an adult, I realized that it\u2019s difficult to explain to a child why she
shouldn\u2019t have something or that there is danger involved. As a child, I couldn\u2019t
comprehend adult decisions or reasoning, but a child can trust. I knew I had my
daddy\u2019s love. All those times when he came running to me because of those \u201cbumps in the night\u201d proved
that love and that he was always there for me. Still, I argued and cried when he stood his ground in
telling me \u201cno\u201d to something. In later years, I thanked my dad for the wisdom he had. Now that I am a
parent, I understand how hard it is to see your child cry when you have to take something away\u2014when
you can\u2019t explain your reasons because their young minds won\u2019t understand.
That must be how it is with our Heavenly Father, only He never makes a mistake in judgment. He
proved His love for me when He sent His Son to die on the cross for my sins. Jesus loves me so much
that He paid the price for my offenses! He comes to me when I cry out for help, just like my daddy came
in the middle of the night to comfort and take my fear away with his strong presence. I go back to the
cross when I don\u2019t understand, and there I see the love of God for me. The circumstance I\u2019m in may not
change, but my perspective does, because: \u201cJesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever!\u201d
(Hebrews 13:8, NAS).<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\nIn Christ, Cathy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My mother-in-law, Adele, whom I also call \u201cMom\u201d uses the phrase, \u201csweetsorrow,\u201d to describe the unexplainable peace a follower of Christ has in the midstof tumultuous times. Mom has lived through many hardships. She was married at By 24, she had six children, including one who died shortly after birth. Sheendured spousal abuse, financial difficulties, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cathy-hicks-thinks-out-loud","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=411"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":413,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411\/revisions\/413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}