Suffering Equals Credibility

My brother Andrew died of malaria. He was just 8 months old.  His fever reached 105-106F more than enough to cause brain damage.

My Mother knew.  She prayed that a loving and kind God would take him home to Heaven.

Little did we know then......what we know now.

In Congo, Africa, most families lose infants and toddlers to a whole host of opportunistic diseases.  Most families....except the white missionary families......until now.

We cried.

African families cried with us.....they knew our pain....they had lost children too....many had lost multiple children.

As the African women comforted my Mother they said, "When you first came to us you were just a worthless young single woman, but then you married a man.  We rejoiced with you because now you, like us, understood the joy and the sorrows of living with a man.  Later, you had a baby son, and we rejoiced with you because now, like us, you had endured the pain and experienced the joy of childbirth.  We were happy for you.

But you were not quite complete until you experienced the death of your child....today you are a complete woman.

From that day on, African women listened to my Mother, they received her advice and teaching with open hearts and minds.  She was considered trustworthy.  She was fully accepted in the African community.  She was credible.  As a result, my Mothers ministry was accepted, trusted, received, empowered and multiplied.

Why?  Because of suffering.  Without the death of my brother, my Mothers ministry would not have been empowered in the minds and hearts of African women.

To be credible in ministry, we must have experienced loss.   Suffering bridges the gap between the message and the man or woman who hears it.  Jesus was a "Man of sorrows and was acquainted with grief."   Jesus was credible....because he had experienced suffering himself.

What can I learn here?  What is the "takeaway?"

It's this:  Suffering equals credibility in the ministry.  Let your suffering make you credible.

Do we miss Andrew?  Yes.

I named my son Andrew in honor of his Uncle....and so that my Mom and Dad could catch a glimpse of what might have been on Earth.....until in Heaven, the tears run dry and we are all together again.

In the town of Isiro, Congo....there is a small grave....but for miles around there are families whose lives were changed by the message of the Gospel because suffering and loss made the Gospel credible!