Because during Tyler’s illness we saw God’s presence and plans playing out so intimately, I had no doubt that after his death God would work in those of us Tyler left behind. Last Thursday, 11/29/12, was the day that marked eight months lived without Tyler. That same day, I received confirmation that I will be going to Costa Rica next June, a member of a student missions team with Tyler’s school.
In spring 2011, Tyler and some fellow classmates made up the first student team from Chapelgate Academy serving for ten days at a small mission in the slums of San Jose, Costa Rica. It was a dream fulfilled for him. He returned home replete with accounts of the children he’d met, the leadership team made up of local teens, the adults he’d served beside, and the deep discussions he’d had with the missionaries there. He was already talking about returning the following year. As it turned out, another team from Chapelgate did travel back to the same mission in San Jose. Tyler, however, was not among them. Instead, the 2012 team brought with them the sad news that Tyler had just lost his battle with Leukemia.
Tyler had left an impression on the locals and missionaries he’d met in 2011. When they heard of his diagnosis of cancer, they joined so many others in fervently praying for Tyler’s healing despite their own daily suffering in impoverished conditions. A month ago, the Chapelgate teacher who coordinates the teams to Costa Rica invited me to consider joining the 2013 team.
After much prayer, I excitedly agreed to go. Next June, I will serve with some of Tyler’s close school friends and alongside the Costa Rican youth who also knew my son. I will experience the places, scents, and sounds he experienced and walk in his footsteps. As Tyler’s mom, I hope to be able to offer comfort to his school friends and Costa Rican friends. But I know I will be the one who is blessed.
I just can’t get over how amazing my God is. I’ve always believed He never wastes a hurt, and I’ve now been living that experience first-hand for the past 15 months as I’ve witnessed blessing after blessing come out of Tyler’s illness and death. He’s offered me so much more than comfort in the midst of my loss.
He’s offered me and so many others the opportunity to bloom in the midst of our loss, making good out of bad. I love the way The Message phrases the well-known passage of Romans 8:26-28:
Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.”
Amen!