When God Does the Unthinkable

We’re talking today with Terri M. Stellrecht, who self-published a book, How My Savior Leads Me, in which she tells about how last February God did the unthinkable by taking her twelve-year-old son, Trent, in a skiing accident.

Terri  is quick to qualify that her family’s tragedy and others are considered the unthinkable only “because our plans are not God’s plans, and our ways are not God’s ways.”

What has been the greatest surprise for you this year? 

The provision and bounty of God’s grace: never did I know that it could run so deep in a believer’s life.

What have been the least helpful things people have said and done in response? 

Saying and doing nothing at all. People are afraid of saying the wrong thing, but saying nothing at all is worse.  

What have been the most helpful things people have said and done? 

Those who have come alongside us with the greatest impact have been those who have simply walked it with us. Not those with the “correct” words to say, but those who have offered any words at all; those who have cried with us and hugged us; those who have simply been here; those who have let us see the work that God is doing in their lives through our son.

In what way do you think  your husband and kids would say this has changed you? 

God has given me a passion to live for Him, in a bold way, as if I am living every day like it would be the day that I would see my Savior face to face. I long to hear the words “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

What about God do you see differently since the accident? 

God’s glory; God’s sovereign hand; the tip of the iceberg of the necessity of suffering, which draws a believer to cling to God; the apathy in my own life toward living my short days for God before the accident; my overwhelming tendencies to doubt God. God has done so much!

Ultimately, nothing matters here in this world except what is done for Christ. As we saw with Trent’s short days, time is fleeting, and nothing will go into eternity with us. What matters is what we do with Jesus and His Word; treasures can be stored up and sent ahead of us, while this world’s treasures will all fade away.

What we have been led to ask so many since the accident is: “What if it had been you? Where would you be?” There is nothing that matters more in a person’s life than the answer to that question.

You can read more from Terri at her blog site, HowMySaviorLeadsMe.blogspot.com, and through her book, How My Savior Leads Me.