God fixes the broken.
 

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering

produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been

poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit,

who has been given to us.

Romans 10:9

Dear Me,

I’m writing this letter to you from the year 2024. For you, the year is 2014, and you are currently making some of the best laid plans of your life, oblivious of your—our—future. It’s just around the corner, and I know you are so optimistic.  It’s good to be optimistic. It’s good to be infused with the hope that is Christ.  Unfortunately, though, I have some bad news. I wish I could tell you the road ahead of you in the next decade will be void of hardship—that it will be a road full of career advancement, creative productivity, and massive spiritual growth (and don’t get me wrong, those will happen, eventually). But before all those things happen, I must tell you that you will be tested. Severely.

Your wife has already lost her mother a year ago, and her father will also pass on to glory this very year.  This will devastate the entire family, a family that was so dependent on both the patriarch and matriarch to guide them and support them through the ebbs and flows of daily life. The family will suffer a blow that they will never fully recover from in short. And your beautiful wife...she will break and undergo a change that will change both your lives forever.

Will you survive? Will she? Of course, you will. God’s grace and mercy will remain throughout.  But the days will become very bleak. Dark. Satan will attack you both through mental illness, traumas of the past, job troubles and more. And you will feel like you are hanging by a thread of sanity on some days. You will pray and cry out to the Almighty God to spare your better half, because the Devil will be trying to take her life on a weekly, sometimes daily basis.

The suffering between you two of one flesh will be isolating: no one in your life will understand, because the test that you and she have been chosen to endure will be foreign to them. No one, not even your fellow Christians, will have an answer or explanation for your troubles. Much like Job, only God Himself will be equipped to answer you out of the whirlwind of hardship called your life...and His answer, both definite and sure, will come at His determined time. Not yours.

In the meantime, you will be forced—compelled—to cling to your faith in Jesus, proving its realness and your blessed assurance even as EVERYTHING in your life points to the certainty that you will LOSE.  Lose her. Lose your job. Lose favor with the Lord.

Of course, God will deliver you and your wife. He will deliver you in ways that your pitiful, small mind cannot fathom. God will do what he always does—-He will make a way out of no way. And when He does, you, my friend, will be overwhelmed with thankfulness and awe! But there will be a few years of great highs and terrible lows. What I need you to do, Daniel, is to just hang on. Change does come. The sadness will not last forever.

––––––––

Eventually, things will get better. Years later, God will have brought your love into a much better state of health. You—a better job. And you will have been blessed with a new renaissance of creative productivity, creating something that you never dreamed you would, although you’ve dreamed it your whole life.

But the Devil will not give up. During this time, you will still suffer losses. The Pandemic will arrive. You will lose your job, gain a better one, then lose that one as well. You will be blessed with an even better job—probably the best day job you ever held—yet, as your wife’s good health rises to a level she hasn’t seen in years, your own health will begin to fail you. This will begin to affect your artistic aspirations once again—and by April of 2023, you will be admitted into the local ER, in critical congestive heart failure and very literally, knocking on Heaven’s door. You, during the two-week stay in the hospital, will begin the process of getting your affairs in order, preparing to draw your last.

I know this is terrifying to hear, my dear brother. But this is the most important part. I need you to listen, listen with all your heart, mind, and soul. God will NOT FORGET YOU. He will NEVER leave you nor forsake you. And I, brother, am living proof of that. He brought you back from the brink of death. You will experience a recovery in health that some of the most revered doctors in this country will not be able to scientifically explain. God will reveal Himself to both you and all around you—THROUGH you and your recovery.

And you, with all your doubts and hesitations—with all your frustrations and confusions, once and for ALL time, will be shown by the Almighty Father just who He is and what He can do! You will see a real-life miracle manifested in your life, and it will remove all doubt as to the power of whom you serve...the invincible power of the one who hung on that cross and sits at the very right hand of the Everlasting God to this VERY MOMENT.

If I can leave you with one piece of advice, Daniel...it is this:  BELIEVE in all circumstances. BELIEVE in your beloved Christ in ALL circumstances you find yourself in. When things are at their darkness, KNOW that God is there, and that He will NOT fail you!  He CANNOT fail! And whether you live or die, the Lord God will remain on His throne. He will deliver you in this job or the next—this body or the next...this life or the next. Truly...ALL things work for the good of those that love God and have been called according to His purpose. Hallelujah.

This is my prayer for us both...that Christ gives us the strength to hold onto this wisdom, down to our very last breath. In Jesus’ beautiful name. Amen.

Talk soon,

Daniel