I started out my workday this morning by watching the online video of the Chapman family on Good Morning America talking about the loss of their beloved little girl Maria Sue. Robin Roberts did an excellent job of interviewing the family as well as Will Franklin who was driving the vehicle that struck Maria in their driveway.
I ended my day watching the Chapman family on Larry King Live. I cried for a solid hour and had the type of sobs that are deep and painful. My heart hurts so deeply for this family as well as other families that have endured this type of loss. I was in awe of how they are able to share so openly and honestly their true feelings. My heart is pained for their seventeen year old son that must endure his own private despair. This family tonight was a picture of what forgiveness looks like. They openly discussed asking God why He would allow something like this to touch their family.
Maybe I hurt so deeply because I have a relatively new driver in the home who is nearly seventeen? Maybe the sobs were so deep because my nearly sixteen year old got his much desired driver's permit last Friday? Maybe it is because when I experienced infertility for so many years I longed to bring a little girl home from China. I don't know what touched me so profoundly tonight but as you read on it may explain the hope and joy I have even amidst circumstances that we cannot control.
Steven Curtis Chapman was talking about the day Maria Sue died and how earlier in the day she had been drawing. They did not find what she had drawn until the next day when they returned home to retrieve clothes for her burial. Steven said the night she died he was telling God that he just wanted to see that she was okay; if he could just see that everything would be alright. His words to this day as he recalls them pierced my heart...you could hear the pain in his plea. The next day upon walking into the art room they found what Maria had been working on the previous day. She had taken a simple piece of notebook paper and had drawn a six petal flower in which she only colored in one petal. The Chapman's have six children. On the front she wrote a word that the Chapman's said she has never written before and it was big and bold. The letters were SEE and at the end of the page was a little butterfly!
We can question God when things take place that we do not understand. We can cry out to Him! He hears our pleas. I believe with all my heart that the Lord gave this grieving family a sign that Maria is with her Abba Father in Heaven and she was telling them, "See I am okay!" When the camera showed this sweet little notebook paper art piece that to the naked eye did not appear to be much but the word SEE and a little blob at the bottom that look kinda like a butterfly. Once they opened the paper that had been folded in half, much like a card, it is only then that you see the six petal flower....all petals white but one which was blue. I could not contain my quiet sobs. Thank you Lord that you hear our cries and you lift us up from the mirey clay in times of great distress.
In the days and weeks ahead please remember the Chapman family and especially Will.
Here are several links that you might want to view:
Shaohannah's Hope
House Mix blog by Jim Houser, SCC's Manager
Steven Curtis Chapman
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