Trusted with Trials
2:00 AMAs many of you already know, a little over a month ago, my parents filed a missing person’s report on my brother, Blake Smith, when my dad checked our family tracking app and realized that Blake did not make it to his dorm that rainy Saturday night. My parents, my husband, two aunts, two uncles, three cousins, and I made the drive from Birmingham, Alabama, to Knoxville, Tennessee, early Sunday morning. We spent the whole day speaking to detectives, analyzing his last Instagram story, and praying that we would find him alive as soon as possible. Thankfully, we were able to screenshot his Instagram story minutes before it expired and disappeared, and from that, we found the location of this lake.
Early Monday morning, my family unit drove to
the lake – and to our surprise, there were already search parties from his work
and just random good Samaritans who had heard his story and were deeply touched
searching and asking if they could do anything else to help. When we realized
that there was no trace of him at the lake, we went to the address that our
tracking app gave us – the same place that they found his totaled car. Our
family, his work, and kind-hearted strangers swept that area as well. Soon, the
police came with a K9 unit and found his body in a nearby lake. We were
shocked. Although we were extremely close, my brother was the last person that
I ever worried about. He had his life together. He was responsible. He went to
a Christian college. He was studying to be a youth pastor. He loved the Lord
with his entire heart, and he was not afraid to share his faith with anyone.
It is easy to say that God is
good in the good times, but what about the bad times? Does the fact that God is
good in the good times make God bad in the bad times? Of course not! If
anything, God has made His presence plainly known to me every single day of
tragedy; while in the good times, I would go days without thinking about how
God is right here – in this room – with me.
When we hear of a fellow Christian developing a disease and suffering long, but
staying strong in the Lord, our hearts are touched, and we often pray fervently
for healing. If they receive the healing that we prayed for, it is easy to
proclaim how great our God is; however, not everyone is healed, but our God is
still great. God is the God of the good times and of the bad times. The God of
the blessings and laughter is the same God of trials and sorrow.
The fact that God chooses to
heal some and not others often raises many questions in our minds. Specifically,
tragedy leads to the question “why?” Why would God put me through this while
others are delivered from it? Why would God allow such heartbreak in my life
when I do everything to love and serve Him? Why do bad things happen to good
people? Why would God allow something tragic to happen to someone who has
wholly devoted their entire life to His service? The answer is simple. God is trusting you with this trial to
point others to Him. Others are going through the same thing as you; some
of those people do not have the same faith that you do. God is the only way
through this trial. Because of Him, we have hope to see our loved ones again.
We have hope that we could be healed. We have hope that this new chapter of our
life has meaning, and it is not for nothing. Therefore, we must share our story
with others and let it be a witnessing opportunity to the lost world.
God does not do anything to us; He allows things for us. God did not allow your loved one
to pass away or take your ability to have children or your ability to walk, to
talk, or to hear for nothing. It is true that God has the power to save your
loved one from the grasp of death, to heal your disability, or to give you a
child; however, the fact that He can does
not always mean that He will. God
does not do anything to us; however,
God does allow these trials in our
life for a very specific reason. That reason might be to lead another soul
going through the same thing closer to Him, or that reason might just be to let
God show his goodness, peace, and strength through your life.
When you are struck with
tragedy – you suddenly have an audience that you did not ask for and do not necessarily
want. What will you do? What will you say? Will you point others to Christ or
will you curse His name? While your
world is turning upside down, the
world is watching. God is putting His trust in you to point others to Him
through the entire tragedy. Yes, you are going to break down – and yes, there
will be days that you cannot get off of the couch, but you cannot (I repeat)
CANNOT let those moments define you. If you are truly a Christian, then you can
do all things through Christ – which strengthens
you, and you absolutely must ask Him for that strength. Because the Lord
promises that we can do all things through Him, we know that we can get through
any trial in life. 2 Peter 3:9 tells us that the Lord will always keep his
promises:
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to
repentance.
In short,
the Lord will give us the strength and peace that we need to get through each
day if only we focus on him. This verse was actually framed in the place we
stayed in Knoxville while we were searching for my brother, and ultimately
learned of his demise:
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed
on thee:
because he trusteth in thee.
-Isaiah 26:3
18 comments
Brittany, this is perfectly written and I love the concept you touched on. The idea that we are trusted with trials to point others to Christ is such an eloquent way to put it. God is faithful and I’m happy to see you harnessing just that. Fight the good fight!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, William! I am so glad that you enjoyed the post. God is definitely faithful always, especially in times of trials.
DeleteWow!!!! All I can say is that the Lord is giving you grace. Thank you so much for putting in words what we so badly need to hear. To share in a time af grief is hard but you are touching so many people with your words! Thank you again for pointing people to Jesus!!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Cynthia. This honestly means so much to me. The Lord is giving us so much grace and strength to get through this hard time. We are fully relying on the Lord, and he is faithful. Thank you for the encouraging words.
DeleteBrittany,
ReplyDeleteYour testimony has been so amazing to me. The Lord has definitely given you grace and strength to get through these difficult moments. I can't imagine what you are going through but I hope that I could say the same. You said everything so perfectly. It has given me something to think about when the hard times come. I love you dearly! Thank you for sharing your heart with us.
Thank you so much, Erica. I am glad that that you enjoyed the article. Thank you for your encouraging words.
DeleteBeautifully written. I, too, came to this understanding after losing my niece 3 years ago. God keeps His promises & He has promised to "be near the brokenhearted" & I honestly can say I felt Him near.He also strengthened me through that time & I have been blessed with helping others in their time of grief. God can work His purposes in good times & in tragedy. That has been a big lesson for me. I have prayed & hurt for your family as my own grief has given me more empathy for those who have lost loved ones.
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry for your loss. Thank you so much for your prayers for my family. Your prayers mean more to us than we can even describe, but I am sure that you already know that. Thank you for taking the time to read my post and to reach out to us.
DeleteBrittany,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this blog via Facebook, as a person who is dealing with the loss of both my parents, and my mother in law in a 3 week period from Nov-Dec 2017, I am struggling. I find myself questioning God as to why I am enduring this heart ache and grief all at one time. I have to keep believing and trusting he has a plan. I don't understand why but I know there is a reason. Please uplift our family in your prayers as we do the same for you.
Christel, I am so sorry for your loss. We will definitely be praying for you in this hard time. I understand what you mean. Those "why" questions are the hardest ones to answer. Sometimes, we find ourselves asking them, and other times friends and family are asking it to us. Just like you said, we just have to remember that God has a plan. My family has used our tragedy as a witnessing opportunity. We have come to find out that when you tell others of the brevity of life and include the story of your loved one who has passed on, people are no longer offended; rather, they look at you as someone who truly cares for them and their soul.
DeleteI will be praying for you and your family, Christel.
So beautifully written. I have asked myself these very same questions. When I was 21 , the Lord took my brother home. He was lost at sea. It was so hard to see my parents and his fiance in such pain. We all we were grieving. I am one of 10 children. Through out all or the searching for my brother and the many years after, my parents never lost faith that it was God's plan. They had already lost my sister at age 5 to cancer. They did have questions as to Why? Why again? But they had their love and faith in God and so do I. Both my parents have passed how and I have since lost another brother. Although my heart breaks , I know we will be together again some say. I followed your brothers story. I watched the YouTube clips of his sermons. He was an amazing young man. He is with God and we may never know the reason why he was chosen so young to leave, but trust in the Lord and know your brothers death has brought so many to God.
ReplyDeleteJoanne, I am so sorry for your loss. Your testimony is absolutely shinning for Christ right now. To trust Him after so much loss and pain must not be easy, but thank you so much for letting the Lord show His power in your life. I am sure that you are looking forward to your family reunion as I am looking forward to mine. Thank you for taking the time to watch my brother's sermon and reading my post.
DeleteThank you for sharing this!! Such true words. My husband was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2009. About 2 weeks after his diagnosis I was crying & angry. I was thinking....this is the best man in the world, he has never tried drugs, saved himself for our marriage, attended church every time the doors were open, witnessed & led many people to the Lord, why would God pick him??? Finally, I said to my husband: “this is so unfair, we have two baby boys, why would God do this to you? Why not some horrible person in prison??” My husband responded: “honey, God knows I will give HIM the glory every new day that HE gives me...He probably wouldn’t get that from someone in prison.” After that day I looked at our situation differently. He was given 6 months to live BUT GOD gave us 8.5 years instead. My husband praised God every single day until he left us on July 2, 2017. We too, gained an audience of over 2,000 people through our Facebook page titled “Russell’s Race - Pray, Fight, Grace” Like you said: God is good in the good times BUT HE is good in the bad times too! Just trust HIS plan even when you can’t possibly understand stand it. Many prayers for you & your family! In Christian Love, Shawnte Stansberry
ReplyDeleteP.S. I am commenting from an old blog page of mine but I have a new one coming ;-)
Shawnte, I am so sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing your story with us, and thank you for letting the Lord use your tragedy. The Lord is shinning through you and your testimony. Thank you for reaching out and for praying for my family.
Delete2 Corinthians 1:3-4 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our
ReplyDeletetroubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God." Prayed for your family. Randy
Randy, thank you so much for the comforting verse and for praying for us. We definitely feel your prayers!
DeleteSo beautifully written and exactly what I needed to read right now. I’m so sorry for your loss. Thank you so much for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI am so encouraged that this was a help to you. Thank you for reading.
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