Stories I Love to Tell by Gene Edwards

Author:Gene Edwards
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2018-01-17T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 21

THE UNSEEN HAND OF GOD

I have known Ruth for forty years. Her story is so touching, so personal, I did not feel I should write it. I was convinced Ruth could do a better job than I would. Here is her testimony in her own words.

My life began like a 1960s family sitcom. I had two parents who loved each other (and six brothers and sisters who tried to do the same), a nice house in the ’burbs, home-cooked meals every night, church on Sunday, and a loving mother sporting a dress and matching apron at home all day for us. My mom was an artist, full of talent. She made everything from scratch, including our clothes, and always had time for family craft projects and helping others in the community.

My father taught the Sunday Bible study at church. Dad worked for the Billy Graham Crusade. We had been steeped in God’s Word and His love for us. And then the worst thing possible happened. Mom got sick. We watched her die of cancer. She was thirty-nine. I was ten. It felt to me like the act of a merciless and pitiless God.

There were no support groups back then. We went to school the following day, tried to be strong, and saved the grief for crying into our pillows at night. I personally was as mad as hell. Somehow I felt God was responsible and I was done with Him, even though I had witnessed a strong spiritual presence in my mother before she died. That presence of Christ was undeniable even as young as I was, and I have never forgotten it. But at the time it did not matter. Why my mother? She was the last person in the world who deserved that kind of suffering. She had done everything right and raised us to have faith. Mine was gone.

I proceeded to lash out in all the ways grieving kids do. I rebelled. I became self-destructive, combative, and grew a chip on my shoulder the size of the world. My poor father was also lost. This man who had never had to do so much as a load of laundry was now left to father seven grieving children all alone. My grandmothers stepped in to help. Being the one in the family who could not control her mouth, I went to battle with my dad. That resulted in my going to live with relatives.

I was later sent to a Christian boarding school across the country. Angry that I was now losing what supportive family and friends I still had, my intention was to run away when I arrived. I went to the orientation and plotted my runaway plan. But it was there that I met my soul sister Cindy. My plans changed.

Toward the end of the school year, Cindy invited me to spend the summer break with her parents on the west coast. I am pretty sure I said no, but she called her parents anyway, and they agreed to take me.

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