Meaning
The experience of loss itself does not have to be the defining moment of our lives. Instead, the defining moment can be our response to the loss. It is not what happens to us that matters as much as what happens in us. Darkness, it is true, had invaded my soul. But then again, so did light. Both contributed to my personal transformation.
Jerry Sittser
Here is the conclusion I’ve come to regarding miraculous healing: God certainly can, and sometimes does, heal people in a miraculous way today. But the Bible does not teach that he will always heal those who come to him in faith. He sovereignly reserves the right to heal or not to heal as he sees fit.
Joni Eareckson Tada
Loss forces us to see the dominant role our environment plays in determining our happiness. Loss strips us of the props we rely on for our well-being. It knocks us off our feet and puts us on our backs. In the experience of loss, we come to the end of ourselves.
But in coming to the end of ourselves, we can also come to the beginning of a vital relationship with God. Our failures can lead us to grace and to a profound spiritual awakening.
Jerry Sittser
I encourage you to talk to God about what you are going through. Be specific. Start by describing how you feel. Be honest about your emotions, fears, confusion, and questions.
Ruth Graham
I don’t know all the reasons why God says yes to some prayers and not others…. But I…found that God gave two conditions which must be met if our prayers are to be guaranteed answers: we must be living in close fellowship with him, and our requests must be in line with his will.
Joni Eareckson Tada
Loss makes the universe seem like a cold and unfriendly place, as if it were little more than trillions of atoms colliding together with no predictability, no design, and no reason to it. Life just happens whether good or bad. Randomness mandates that we simply live as best we can, but in the end we must realize that what happens is often arbitrary.
Jerry Sittser
God lives with us in our experience. He does not leave us alone to get by—even if we are suffering consequences we created for ourselves.
Ruth Graham
I [came] to the conclusion that one of God’s purposes in increasing our trials is to sensitize us to people we never would have been able to relate to otherwise.
Joni Eareckson Tada
No one is safe, because the universe is hardly a safe place. It is often mean, unpredictable, and unjust. Loss has little to do with our notions or fairness. There is often no rhyme or reason to the misery of some and to the happiness of others.
Jerry Sittser
When we ask why, we are asserting our desire to dialogue with the God in whom we have put a measure of trust. We expect he is listening and believe he is the source of answers…. asking was my way of seeking to reconcile circumstances that appeared from my limited human perspective to be inconsistent with God’s love.
Ruth Graham
I realize that other people who have suffered loss have come to different conclusions from mine. Some believe that we know good and bad through the operation of natural law. Others believe that we have knowledge of good and bad through the influence of social convention. But these options seem to beg the question. Where did natural law originate? What is the source of social convention? These questions push me away from atheism and toward God.
Jerry Sittser
Timing is everything…. [God] arranges for natural events to occur at specific times to further his ends. In other words, he plans coincidences.
Joni Eareckson Tada
I took the time to write down all the ways God had prepared me ahead of time for what I was…facing. This activity reinforced the truth that God was, in fact, in control of my situation. He had known what was coming, and he was faithful to get me ready for it.
Ruth Graham
Sorrow indicates that people who have suffered loss are living authentically in a world of misery, and it expresses the emotional anguish of people who feel pain for themselves or for others. Sorrow is noble and gracious. It enlarges the soul until the soul is capable of mourning and rejoicing simultaneously, of feeling the world’s pain and hoping for the world’s healing at the same time. However painful, sorrow is good for the soul.
Jerry Sittser
God sometimes does perform miracles.…But miracles are not his day job, not his usual way of working.
Joni Eareckson Tada
Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
2 Corinthians 4:16
It is the glory of God to conceal a matter.
Proverbs 25:2
We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28
God disciplines us for our good that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Hebrews 12:10–11