Those of you who know me best can appreciate a colleague declaring the SGSTS (Susan Gatti Scattered Thought Syndrome) in my honor. The scattered thoughts raced through my head as I am not even attempting to sleep yet. I am thinking of all the comments people have made to me, all well intended. Some comments are worthy of a blog and some not so worthy. I would just like each of you to have a reference point for your thoughts that orient you to my own. Perhaps this perspective can help you as you talk with those who have been through a difficult time.
I am NOT skilled to understand what has happened to my family. I have often cried and repeatedly stated that I do not understand. Each time I come to the same conclusion: I do not have to understand because God does. Some comments from others and thoughts from my own head have questioned the timing of Rebecca's birth. Some statements have even questioned her revival in fear of a difficult life. Many remarks have noted nothing was wrong prior to that night. Please remember that it is not our place to question God's plan for our lives or the lives of those we love. His understanding is perfect. I believe that when I am seated next to my Heavenly Father He will have some "videos" prepared for me. One will demonstrate what my life and the life of my family would have been like if Rebecca's birth had occurred without complication - the other if Rebecca had not survived. Perhaps only then will I completely understand why she has had to endure the pain and suffering she has. Until that time, I trust that God knows best and remains in control. He will sustain my family and carry out His plan according to His good and perfect will.
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Dear Susan and Ryan,
While reading the book by Lee Strobel entitled "The Case for Faith" I was reminded of you more than once and feel that God put it in my heart to share part of what I read with you
The section about suffering and pain is very powerful. During Mr. Strobel's interview with Peter Kreeft, author of "Making Sense out of Suffering" he states,"We live in a relative bubble of comfort, and we look at pain as an observer, as a philosophical puzzle or theological problem. That's the wrong way to look at pain. The thing to do with pain is to enter it, be one with it, and then you learn something from it."
"It's significant that most objections to the existence of God from the problem of suffering come from outside observers who are quite comfortable, whereas those who actually suffer are, as often as not, made into stronger believers by their suffering."
"After wide-ranging research into the topic of suffering, Philip Yancey wrote, " As I visited people whose pain far exceeded my own....I was surprised by its effects. Suffering seemed as likely to reinforce faith as to sow agnosticism. Scotish theologian James S. Stewart said: "It is the spectators, the people who are outside, looking at the tragedy, from whose ranks the skeptics come; it is not those who are actually in the arena and who know suffering from the inside. Indeed, the fact is that it is the world's greatest sufferers who have produced the most shining examples of unconquerable faith."
God has placed Rebecca into very capable hands.
Laura Adley
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