Negative to Positive

I have been aware this week of friends who have had to face (and still are facing) terrible tragedies in their lives through terminal illness in the family and untimely deaths of family or close friends.  It is difficult to come to terms with such situations, if we ever can.  It seems sometimes that all we can do is put on a brave face and somehow try to appear as though we are coping.  How do we pick up the pieces and carry on?  Is it possible to turn things around so that the awfulness of something that has happened can actually be of some help or benefit to someone.  It is often not until years have passed and we can look back that we see just how life has transpired since the dreadful situation pulled our world apart.

It is exactly 15 years tonight (at 1am) that the doctor who visited my husband at our home affirmed that I was now a widow.  Things would, could never be the same again.  I had overcome many difficulties in my life up to that point but this was something new that I had to face.  On many an occasion I thought that I was doing ok when suddenly from nowhere a terrible cloud seemed to engulf me and a great sadness enveloped me.  There was nothing I could do to stop it.  In time and with great gentleness, God, through friends and family guided me into some sort of life again.  Over the past 15 years, as I look back I thank God that out of the darkness and negativity gradually I saw positive things beginning to emerge.  I moved to the other end of the country after retirement and made a new life, travelling to many parts of the world and becoming part of prayer teams encouraging others in their journey with God.

With 3 other friends on a prayer team visiting the Pacific Island of New Caledonia

It is10 years ago today since the two young schoolgirls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells were murdered in Soham, England.  And now 10 years on the parents of Holly, Kevin and Nicole Wells tell about their heartache and how they have coped with such a horrific tragedy.  They were determined not to let the death of their daughter destroy what remained of their lives while at the same time not forgetting her.  Their son Oliver, who was 2 years older than Holly, was also instrumental in bringing the family back into some sort of home life.  Because of help they received through the charity Grief Encounter, they are now patrons of the charity and earlier this year Kevin ran the London Marathon raising £14,000 for the charity.  They were also instrumental in making sure that police procedure and the keeping of records was reformed.  They were determined that something positive should come out from their sorrow like the phoenix rising from the ashes.

Kevin and Nicola Wells with their son Oliver

It is very hard at the time to see how anything good can come out of such experiences.  It is how I like to interpret the words of Paul to the Romans when he says that all things work together for the good of those that love Him.  When we allow Him to show us the way through our problems, He somehow leads us from the negative into a positive outcome as we allow Him to use the awfulness of what has happened and turn it around so that through it the world becomes a better place.  He make the dark place light, makes the negative into positive.  That is the eternal message of Calvary.