What I Learned From the Worst Thing

 By Jill Krueger Wagner

When my son died two months after my mom, I thought it was the worst thing that could ever happen to me but a worse thing was coming. Todd died at home alone in Georgia with the air conditioning off during a hot spell. He wasn’t found for several days. His body was in bad shape and he couldn’t be positively identified. He hadn’t been to the dentist as an adult and the records from childhood had been destroyed two years before he died. He died in a small town in Georgia and his body was taken to Atlanta where they had a backup for autopsies in the coroner’s office. After some time, they sent the local police to our home to get a DNA sample to be able to identify Todd. FedEx lost the sample and the police had to come out again. This time the coroner from the country town Todd lived in had them send it to her and she actually drove the sample to Atlanta to guarantee it would get there. After all the delays Todd’s body wasn’t positively identified for three months and that was the worst thing.

There is no way to clear up an estate without a death certificate and when you don’t get one for three months that causes lots of complications. Vendors wouldn’t let me cancel services without the certificate but then wanted to charge his estate for those three months.

 The emotional toll wore on us more than anything but God was about to show us some eternal truths.

·       Having an established spiritual support system will get you through the most awful circumstances

·       Your fellow Christians will be a light in the dark places with just the right words to lift your tattered spirit and with Godly counsel on handling the delay

·       When your mind goes to the negative, God can give you a positive to counteract it

·       The Bible studies that you “just happen” to be doing will speak to your situation

·       The Lord will enable you to do tasks you never thought you could do

·       People working in country coroner’s offices have caring hearts

·       God will bring other Christians that you have never met to help with huge tasks

·       Others you’ve never met will bless you with words of praise for your child

·       An extended family reunion just “happened” to be planned & they poured out love on us

·       Sermons will uphold you with messages like, “Tomorrow is God’s responsibility. Trusting Him today is yours.”

·       A Rhett Walker concert planned months in advance is just the right thing to soothe our troubled hearts

·       When stress overwhelms me, God arranges to get me out of the situation

·       I’m to focus on God & who He is, not on the trials of life

·       Old friends reach out and nourish my soul

·       God gives wisdom and strength to not respond to attacks

·       An acronym I wrote years ago encourages me how to wait

o   Willingly

o   Accept

o   Immanuel’s

o   Timing

·       1 Peter 5:7-10 and Psalm 42:5 gives me steadfast resolve to fight through sadness

·       A reminder that Jesus is ALWAYS in my boat

·       Christian radio sermons, music, and listening to the Bible will raise my deflated soul

 

“you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” Ps. 16:11