Living the Faith

I just have to write about this.....

Okay, so sometimes when I read the paper or whatnot and I hear a story that makes me go "huh?" , I will google the name in the story and see what I find. Well, I read the story about a family in Michigan whose daughter was in a coma from a tragic car accident with a team of college students on an outing. A tractor trailer or something caused the van they were in to crash and I think 5 died. Anyhow, this family has been holding vigil for their comatose daughter for FIVE WEEKS and now finds out that their daughter is actually one of the ones who died and the girl in the coma is another girl who was thought to have been dead. ?????

So, I google the name of the girl thought to be in a coma "Laura VanRyn" and the first link takes me to a blogspot blog on her recovery that her sister was writing. I wasn't able to read each entry, but scanned them and this family is writing scripture and prayers and are CLEARLY Christian people walking with God and giving updates on "Laura". I mean, they had moved her to a hospital closer to home, they walked down the aisle to accept her diploma from college, they were holding 24 hour vigils and care at her bed and blogging all her updates.

They found out just a couple of days ago that it is not their daughter. Due to some things the young girl began saying and whatnot, they requested further tests and through her dental records, discovered that it was not their Laura. She was actually a girl, Whitney, who had VERY similar features and because of the accident, the coma, the injuries, and a mis-identification at the scene, they thought this was Laura. I read no bitterness, no anger, no resentment in the next few posts. They are heartbroken, of course, but, I mean talk about living their faith. They amazed me. If you have time, check it out. They are hoping the blog will continue with updates on Whitney for people to still pray and as of today, Whitney's family had posted one update.

Anyway, this was a real heartcheck to me. I mean, what do you do with that? Five weeks of vigil, prayer, praise reports, finances, I can't imagine all that has occured.....now, it turns out that their daughter is already gone and buried. Not to mention this other family, they have missed this whole process of healing and walking through, but I can't think of a better family to have done that for them. In their hearts, their girl was gone, now she's alive. wow. I read from their update post that they also know God and His mercy and love. That will take them through, I know, but also, what heartache they feel for the other family.
Anyway, this just made me think....."how would I have responded? What witness would I have given to all those reading that blog?" You know there are hundreds, probably thousands who have now looked at it and what a testimony the VanRyn's have made it. Let's all check our hearts and ask ourselves......do we mean it? Will we live it, no matter what? I can think of very few things worse than going through what this family is going through. Yet, their faith is shining. May I never need to be that strong, but may I always be that strong.....you know what I mean?

check out their blog at www.lauravanryn.blogspot.com