You saw that correctly. Bella was in Sunday school and they asked, “How have you come closer to God?” Her answer was through the death of her grandfather and brother.
Trey was diagnosed when Bella was five and died when she was nine. Two years later Poppi passed away. THAT is what drew her closer to God. Not a bible verse, not vacation bible school, not our family prayer times, not worship, not anything else. According to her, it was the death of two people she loved dearly. Granted, you and I both know that all of those others are things God used to love her…but not what she noted.
It was in those horrific times that she felt the love of God. It was because of that she felt she “matured.” It was in those times, that we all dread, that she found the God that so many blame for the very circumstances she was in.
What are you facing? What has caused you to exist in the absolute depths of life? What grieves you? Who is suffering? How are you suffering? If I say, “hopeless” what about your life comes to mind? What is it that has rendered you believing that you have nothing left?
You have more.
You have more than you could every imagine. Bella is special only in that she has been forced to be. She has had to endure more than any young girl should. She is still too young to realize that she has begun to be what so many strive to be. Untouchable. If you can go through the worst of life and still survive, what else is there?
She has learned that God IS there. He IS with her. He IS there for her when she needs Him the most. Instead of giving way to bitterness she has found love. Rather than exist is fear of the next bad thing to happen she can truly live in those moments of life that happen between the valleys. Then, when others go through their times of trials and tribulations, she has learned what it is to comfort.
Can you do it without God? I don’t know. What I do know is that if you allow Him, He will find you there and you will never be the same.