Sorrow and Hope

Did anyone else see Dateline last night? I had been hearing all about this story of these 2 families and their tragedy all week on the Today show since Matt Lauer was the one who conducted the interviews. For some reason, I remembered at exactly 9pm last night that it was on and I turned the television on.

The story is almost unbelievable. Two girls in an accident. One is severely injured and goes into a coma. Her family stays by her bedside for 5 weeks, praying she will be healed. The other is killed instantly and her family morns her death and buries her. Then it is discovered that the girls were mistakenly identified at the crash scene. The girl in the coma belonged to the family that had buried their daughter 5 weeks ago. See? Unbelievable!

And while the story in itself is enough to make you want to watch, that isn't what impacted me. It was the fact that both of these families have a strong faith in the Lord. They aren't just "Christians," but they walk with Him. His presence is so very evident in their lives. You can definitely see it in the video clip I posted at the top. I was so encouraged by their faith and their courage to display it for all the world to hear on television. Their humility was inspiring. God is using their story to impact lives and further His kingdom around the world. I found myself praying for Matt Lauer as he was shown Jesus in the flesh through these people.

It is a heartbreaking story with so much hope. And I know the hope was evident because of the Father who loved each of those people involved more that we will ever understand.