Page 83 - Grace150 Devotional

But we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and
endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put
us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy
Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:3–5
In April 2005, I was the college director at Grace. We had two children under
three, and my wife Abbie was 20 weeks pregnant. Excited to learn the gender
of our baby, we piled into the car bound for the obstetrician’s office. What we
expected to be a happy family outing turned tragic. The nurse used her cursor
to point to where our baby’s upper brain and skull should be and there was
nothing. A specialist later confirmed that our daughter had anencephaly, a
terminal birth defect.
Over the following two months, God used the people of Grace to teach us about
hope and the love of Christ through the church. Your emphasis on the Word
gave us the faith to hope that God could heal our little girl and the assurance
that He would bring good out of this horrible situation. You gathered around us
like a family. You enveloped us in care which was as sweet as the pain was bitter.
And when our precious little Hope (from the verses above) passed late that June,
you gave us space to grieve and took care of details that we just didn’t have it in
us to do. In a dark season, you were God’s instrument to pour His love into our
broken hearts.

Lord, let Grace Church continue to be Your tool to heal the brokenhearted,
showing Your love to the world by our love for each other.
– Jason Keel

Jason Keel, married to Abbie and father of Hannah, Owen, and Bennett, is a native of
Alabama who has lived all over the world carrying out various roles in making disciples
of Jesus. He was the Director of College and Young Adult Ministries at Grace Presbyterian
from 2001 to 2007. Currently he is on staff with Cru-City in the Atlanta area helping
churches learn how to make multiplying disciples; especially among immigrants and
international students

devotions for the journey DAY 76