Grace from Grief

It's amazing to me how God can make something good out of something terrible.

As I was waiting for an appointment this morning, I read a story about a young 25 year old man who was at his church when a couple began having a heated marital dispute. In the midst of trying to break up the altercation, he was shot and later died from complications resulting from the gunshot wounds. His parents, in their grief, decided to donate his organs. Because he was young and healthy, they were able to harvest and use five different organs for immediate transplant. In the bitter moments of one family's tragedy came immense joy to five other families - many awaiting certain death of their loved ones without those transplants. Several of the organ recipients attended the memorial service for the young man, overcome with both grief and gratitude. The heart recipient told of the young man's mother coming over to him and listening to his new heart - a living, breathing part of her son, now sustaining another man's life.

As I was driving home, I saw a man riding his bike down the road, full speed, an enormous smile on his face, with no legs. I'm sure he never anticipated his journey through life with no legs, but there he was training for a race nonetheless. He was making something wonderful from his tragedy and in doing so spread joy to a perfect stranger who saw his enthusiasm as he pedaled his wheelchair bike down the road with his hands.

There's nothing so terrible in life that God can't make something good come from it.