"Tragedy or Triumph" Kathryn Kuhlman

I have before me a picture that was taken last Christmas. And the picture was sent to the daddy of the three little boys who are in the picture. And a lovely mama, a beautiful mama, Anna Lou. And here are the three sons. Young Timothy, Jeffrey, Stephen, and oh, they're so proud of their daddy. Major Hart Armstrong. There's a Christmas tree that was taken in the living room of the home. Oh, the smile on their faces. Their faces are radiant. And you can just imagine what the... Daddy felt when he got this picture of a little family back home. But you know, one never knows what tomorrow is going to bring. No one is immune to tragedy. Always know that. There isn't a person in the whole world who is immune to sorrow. And late in April, Major Hart Armstrong hurried from Vietnam to the bedside of his wife who was injured by a tornado which destroyed the house where she was visiting. She died shortly after he arrived home from Vietnam. And this is his story. This is his testimony to... God's faithfulness, and I give it to you word for word, just as he has given it. Life is a tapestry woven by the master weaver. We look on the underside, and we question the ravelings, the peculiar pattern, the color formations. but God looks on the top. The pattern unfolds beautifully, as with perfect skill. The weaver works. He knows how the completed tapestry will look. A stroke of bold color has suddenly come across my life. A heartache, a heartbreak. My darling is suddenly and permanently gone, so young, the mother of my three children. While separated by 13 ,000 miles, the events began that permitted her glorious entry to her home, her heavenly home, and into the presence of her master. A tumult of questions and doubts came tumbling into my mind. How am I to care for my three sons? The mother is gone. How do you tell them that their mother will never return? How do you tell three youngsters that their mother is gone? That she'll not be coming home today? Should I stay in the military service, itself an occupation marked by instability? What can the future hold but problem after problem? The turbulence cannot be imagined, only experienced. Only those who've gone through such an hour of darkness can understand. I felt suddenly plunged into dark, deep, stormy waters, waters that were bitter cold. I felt as Peter in Matthew the 14th chapter. When Peter looked around at the high waves, he was terrified and he began to sink. My quiet time seemed void. My prayers so empty. Praying almost seemed futile. The Lord unhearing. As Peter, I cried, save me, Lord. Please, Lord, save me. And then to continue Peter's experience, Jesus reached out his hand and rescued me. Oh, man of little faith. Jesus said, why did you doubt? Why did you ever doubt me? The waters were still dark and swift, but I wasn't swept off my feet. The bottom was solid, and as the waters came to my chin, I found a firm, strong hand leading me safe to the other side. And God made me realize that I had turned my focus and attention to the problems and from my relationship to him. I was concentrating on the wrong things. The problems seemed even bigger than my God. I was concerned with what I was going to do. What about the problems? And not standing in awe. at what God could do with them. How pitifully natural. We're all so human. The strongest of us is so human. Whenever a crisis arises, we immediately begin casting about among our feeble human resources to see how we can solve it. We turn to man. We turn to His methods instead of to God and His miracles. As the children of Israel, we have not learned the lesson. And after the miraculous escape and repeated miracles, we still are prone to doubt God in the desert. I was not applying an oft -taught lesson, one that I had memorized. in Colossians, the second chapter, the sixth verse. And now, just as you trusted Christ to save you, trust him for each day's problems. Live in vital communion and union with him. And so I began to wait patiently on him, realizing the truth of the 25th Psalm. he will teach the ways that are right and best to those who humbly turn to him how blessed the experience if we will only be still and know that he is god be still there is such power there is such strength in Be still and know that he is God. The message came through strong and clear. Trust me. Commit your problem to me. Just stay in vital union with me. Oh, what a burden was lifted. Tumult of doubt and worry was replaced with promises and assurances of provision. Hasty plans needed to be remade. The decisions guided by human logic were not necessarily the paths in which the Lord wanted to lead. Jeremiah, the 29th chapter, the 11th verse, was the most precious promise given. For I know the plans I am planning for you, declareth Jehovah. Plans of welfare and not of calamity to give you a future and a hope. And again, God asserted himself vitally and personally interested in every department of my life. For the first time, I realized how vitally interested he was in every detail of my life. Time, place, duration, occupation, purpose. I was personal to him. My needs were personal to him. Put me to the test. Over and over again he kept saying to me, put me to the test. Oh, put God to the test. and see how kind he is. See for yourself the way his mercy showered down on all who trust in him. Then suddenly, each problem now became just another puzzle for the Lord to solve. I committed. I learned how to commit each day to him, how to commit each problem to him. It has become a joy to anticipate the next difficulty, excitingly to stand on tiptoe and see how he's going to work it out. Oh, for the Christians, death should not be a tragedy, but a triumphant event to look forward to. It's only the beginning of the joyous life of the future that we can begin to experience here on Earth. It's not the end. is the beginning. A Christian should have a homesickness to return to his only true and permanent home that makes a freshman's homesickness at Christmas time pale by comparison. I feel a twinge of jealousy because my loved one has gone first and is now seeing our master face to face. How wonderful to be getting the answers firsthand. to the questions that we have to continue to ponder and discuss. My three boys and I realize that to want her back is only selfish on our part. We must admit that the root of this desire is to please us, a selfish desire. A very selfish. very selfish desire to make our earthly burden a little lighter. When you truly love someone, you want only the very best for them. Nothing but the finest will do. Could there be anything finer or better than to be sitting at the Lord's feet? No. To have her back, if it were possible, would be robbing her of the greatest joy our eternal soul can experience. What joy she must be experiencing. Our poor little mind cannot begin to fathom her joys. Think of it in the presence of the master. Faith having become a reality. While recently driving through the beautiful green countryside and Kentucky horse farms, I momentarily longed for her to enjoy the beauty with me. But the thought quickly followed, how can I wish her here to see such temporary beauty? when I'm longing myself for the beauty that she is seeing. In God's concept of time, she will have only been there a few minutes and will turn to see us enter heaven's gates. And then another thought crossed my mind. I loved her so much. She is missing so much of my love. But can my love or any human love That love that she is now receiving, no. Our human love is beggarly by comparison. Some may foolishly ask, how can a loving God take a mother from a family? How can a loving God leave three young sons without a mother? But we're told in the Psalms that precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. God does not take lightly or lightly permit the death of one of his own. He is more vitally interested and concerned in the lives of his children than we can ever imagine. What more loving deed can a father do than call one of his children permanently home to him? Again, we must honestly admit that our thoughts and our desires are rooted in our own selfishness. Oh, sure. The refiner's fire is hot. And as the dross is skimmed away, I can understand Peter's urging. in 1 Peter, the fourth chapter, that we be not surprised at the fiery trial that has come to test us, but to rejoice. It proves God is concerned and that he's patiently working his master plan in our lives. Though we might not always understand, we can have faith in God. and move out confidently. I have read you the words of Major Hart Armstrong after the death of his wife. Tragedy or... I can give you the answer if you tell me in whom you have faith. Believe me, it's not what happens to you that's so important. It's what you do with that thing after it happens to you. The world may call it a tragedy. The world may say it's an injustice. The world may say it's all wrong. And yet, life is a tapestry woven by the master weaver. We look on the underside and we question the ravelings. But God sees the finished tapestry. One thing I know, he never makes a mistake. And so, today again, I give him thanks for every stone that bruised my feet. For all the heartbreak, all the heartache, all the sorrows, all the fruitless years, all the hopes that I've lived in vain, I do give thanks. For now I know that these were the things that helped me grow.