It is a dark day in Maria Elena today. It’s not the kind of darkness we normally talk about – when the sun has slipped out of sight, and the sky is black in the stillness of night, but the kind of darkness that comes in the wake of unimaginable tragedy.
Yesterday morning we were on our way back from a home study when we received a shocking phone call. A sixteen year old boy from our community had just passed away.
His mom called us to let us know her son was gone.
Alfredo wasn’t just any sixteen year old. He was smart, kind and good-hearted. Despite the addictions that burden every other male in his family, he had stayed clean, didn’t get into trouble and had plans for his future.
When his 18-year-old sister passed away last December, the entire family fell into a deep depression. He was one of the few that could be counted on to help care for the two small children she left behind.
Why, oh God, why?
We pulled the car over for a moment in shock and disbelief, wondering how this could be real. He had been sick all summer, but he was receiving treatment. We had just seen him a few days earlier. He’d looked better.
His mother made sure he was properly cared for. After all, she lost her daughter less than a year ago and was going to make sure it didn’t happen again.
And yet it did.
It is hard to understand sometimes how a God who is the source of such light and beauty could also allow such tragedy. How some people suffer through life day in and day out. How when she was just beginning to pick herself back up again, a mother could face such horrible tragedy once again.
You’re a good, good Father.
I believe it with my whole entire being, yet another part of me wonders why He does things the way He does, why He allows some people to prosper, while others suffer so miserably.
Yet His Word says:
“Let the bones you have crushed rejoice.” Psalm 51:8
It is not our bones that are being crushed today. But this family who are mourning the loss of another child, they are absolutely devastated.
So today we are crying out to Him as though our bones have been crushed, asking Him to be in the middle of this tragedy.
Please join us in praying for this family that is hurting. Pray for us as we stand with them as they grieve. Pray that God would give us the words as we try to comfort them and help them understand that God’s love is infinitely larger than even their deepest pain. Pray that they seek Him in the midst of this storm.
