[Article prepared by Conejo member, Kellie Van Atta]
This past December, my 15-year-old son was safely crossing the street when a woman hit him with her car. It was awful. He was mostly fine physically because of his helmet, but he lost his bike in the process, and he was so traumatized that he didn’t leave his room for over a week. The experience sent him into a mental health emergency. He missed his finals; everything seemed to be falling apart. I was devastated for him and so worried. It had already been a very hard year for us, and I couldn’t imagine why this had happened.
His recovery has been long and challenging. After a hard year and a bike accident, both of us have been walking a rocky, uphill road towards being okay.
But now, after many hard days, he’s on a new bike that we both saved up for. He’s learning how to make modifications to his new bike to make it even safer, and, today, when we were at the bike store, he told me that he wants to get a job there so he can help other people with their bikes. He is doing so much better. His traumatic experience has helped him gain perspective, and it has helped him become more passionate about bikes and about helping people.
All of this reminds me that we never know how God will use our trials to form us and shape us. We don’t have the foresight to understand how our creative, loving God can “in all things work for the good of those who love Him” (Romans 8:28), but His word assures us that He does.
Some trials are heartbreaking. Today, March 22, would have been my mom’s 72nd birthday, but she died when she was 45. Losing her at 17 was the hardest thing I’ve ever been through. But God has allowed me to love teenagers as a teacher, and I’ve been able to support them in ways I never would have been able to had I not been through what I’ve been through. I’ve been able to comfort them with the comfort I received from God (2 Corinthians 1:4).
I’m not writing to say that everything is sunshine and flowers; honestly, life is much harder than I want it to be or expected, but I’m finding more and more that God can turn our poison to medicine, that He can make beauty from ashes (Isaiah 61:3).
I want my son to grow into the man God made him to be, and I know that will involve struggle and hardships. And that’s true for me too. If I truly want to grow in righteousness, I will, as much as I can, “rejoice in [my] suffering.” Because, as the Bible says, “suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, and character produces hope. And hope never disappoints” (Romans 5:3-5).
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