II Corinthians 1:3,4 (TNIV) says, “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 troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”
These verses are often quoted as way of encouraging others or possibly to shed light or offer perspective when someone is going through a critical life situation or crisis. The notion being that one day, it could be in the near or distant future, the pain or turmoil you are experiencing now will have a purpose to help someone else, though at the present moment it is unsightly.
On Wednesday I went on a visit to Children’s Hospital to see a family in our church whose almost 5-month son was having open heart surgery to repair multiple holes in his heart. I was approached by the child’s grandmother about 4 months ago when the child was born to ask me to be available in the future when this day would come.
So I strategically went to the hospital at around 11:30am -- the surgery was about 7am. I say strategically because I figured that it would be right around that time when their son should be out of post-op and in his intensive care unit room. The parents would have been able to see their baby, get a report from the surgeon and now breathe a sigh of relief that the operation was over.
Now how would I know this information? And why would I be approached about this unknown future date almost 4 months ago?
Because almost six years ago our son at five months had open heart surgery at Children’s hospital in San Diego. We like this family had the same time scheduled for our son’s operation and went through a similar process. I was actually familiar with the surgeon that performed their son’s operation. When I met up with the family it was in the same waiting room that was our residence for about 5 day and when I was able to go in see their little baby boy it was in the same ICU.
Being there was a surreal experience. The chairs in the waiting room was the same, the layout etc. It brought back so many memories of what we went through. I never stop being amazed at how God works! I would not have thought when we were going through our son’s operation 6 years ago we would have an opportunity to minister to a family in our church going through an almost identical situation in many ways years later.
Most importantly their son came through the operation really well and the surgery was a success! Praise God!!!
These verses are often quoted as way of encouraging others or possibly to shed light or offer perspective when someone is going through a critical life situation or crisis. The notion being that one day, it could be in the near or distant future, the pain or turmoil you are experiencing now will have a purpose to help someone else, though at the present moment it is unsightly.
On Wednesday I went on a visit to Children’s Hospital to see a family in our church whose almost 5-month son was having open heart surgery to repair multiple holes in his heart. I was approached by the child’s grandmother about 4 months ago when the child was born to ask me to be available in the future when this day would come.
So I strategically went to the hospital at around 11:30am -- the surgery was about 7am. I say strategically because I figured that it would be right around that time when their son should be out of post-op and in his intensive care unit room. The parents would have been able to see their baby, get a report from the surgeon and now breathe a sigh of relief that the operation was over.
Now how would I know this information? And why would I be approached about this unknown future date almost 4 months ago?
Because almost six years ago our son at five months had open heart surgery at Children’s hospital in San Diego. We like this family had the same time scheduled for our son’s operation and went through a similar process. I was actually familiar with the surgeon that performed their son’s operation. When I met up with the family it was in the same waiting room that was our residence for about 5 day and when I was able to go in see their little baby boy it was in the same ICU.
Being there was a surreal experience. The chairs in the waiting room was the same, the layout etc. It brought back so many memories of what we went through. I never stop being amazed at how God works! I would not have thought when we were going through our son’s operation 6 years ago we would have an opportunity to minister to a family in our church going through an almost identical situation in many ways years later.
Most importantly their son came through the operation really well and the surgery was a success! Praise God!!!
So I don’t know what you may be going through at this moment and the idea of your situation having some redemptive purpose in the future is the last thing on your mind, yet I want to encourage you God is faithful and He will use what you are going through for good.
Wow! Beautiful story to confirm a beautiful set of verses. Sounds like a "My Journey" to me. Made me
cry. I can only say, "Praise God for His mercy and the body of Christ loving each other."
Posted by: April King | Friday, October 02, 2009 at 09:24 AM
Great post. I had the same feelings yesterday and it was cool to encourage them that perhaps one day down the road they might be on the other side coming to the hospital for a different reason to encourage another family.
Posted by: Tara Kaya | Friday, October 02, 2009 at 08:26 AM