Tragedy That Transforms: Echoes from the National Prayer Breakfast
This morning at the White House National Prayer Breakfast, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee shared a moving testimony about losing his wife years ago. His words hit close to home: “The most tragic days of my life were strangely becoming the most transformative. What happened to me, I would never want. But what was happening to me, I would never trade, I began to believe that to the degree a man was broken, he could experience wholeness. To the degree a man experiences sorrow, he can know true joy.”
Jerome Li
This morning at the White House National Prayer Breakfast, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee shared a moving testimony about losing his wife years ago. His words hit close to home: “The most tragic days of my life were strangely becoming the most transformative. What happened to me, I would never want. But what was happening to me, I would never trade, I began to believe that to the degree a man was broken, he could experience wholeness. To the degree a man experiences sorrow, he can know true joy.”
With Jessica gone, life has become simple and focused in a way I never expected. Fears that once dominated: approval of others, the pressure to succeed, or death itself, have been greatly diminished. I feel like a different person.
Yes, I’ve been more emotional lately, tears closer to the surface, anger at one time and jealousy at another. Yet alongside that there’s an unshakable certainty about what I’m called to do for the rest of my days. A quiet tint of grey seems imprinted deep in my soul, something that will likely stay until Jesus returns. Grief doesn’t disappear; it becomes part of who I am.
But more than anything, a peace that surpasses all understanding has taken control. I don’t worry the way I used to. Suddenly, my purpose is clear, my actions feel aligned, and I have an assurance that my destiny will be fulfilled, not by my effort, but by His faithfulness.
I believe this certainty, this confidence, this hope comes from Jesus drawing near to Jane and me in a fresh way. He promised He would never leave us nor forsake us, and this is what that feels like: Free and not afraid in some way.
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
— John 14:27 (ESV)
What happened to Jessica is something we would never choose. But what God is doing in us through it, what He’s shaping, refining, and revealing, we would never trade. In the breaking, He brings wholeness. In the sorrow, He gives true joy.