How To See The Goodness Of God In The Shadow Of Suffering
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In this episode, I spoke with Summer Gordon.
Summer is a wife, mother, author, and speaker whose passion is to help others look beyond lifeโs trying circumstances and fix their eyes on Christ.
The Gordon family suffered a tragic loss when their 5-year-old son was hit and killed by someone they knew.
I spoke with Summer about the book ๐๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป๐: ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ผ๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐๐ณ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด, which she and her husband, Reppard, wrote.
They share their transparent story of loss, love, forgiveness, and the unshakeable goodness of God.
Summer shared how it can be easy to park in our pain. But God wants us to live intentionally and shift our thinking from park to drive.
God has so much for us up ahead, including a new life with those we have lost.
God wants us to understand that this is not all there is. There is so much more.
๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ฐ๐ ๐๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐จ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฐ๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐ข๐ซ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง?
UPDATE: May 2025
Since the release of this podcast, we have experienced the heartbreaking loss of our daughter. I have found comfort by reflecting on all the ways God went before our family, placing people, stories, and events in our lives to support us during this difficult time.
Summer's story and book are among those provisions. I have re-read her book with kindred eyes, feeling a shared brokenness and deep gratitude. I am thankful for her willingness to share her pain and vulnerability.
Summer and her husband, Reppard, embody the message of 2 Corinthians 1:3-4:
โBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we are comforted by God.โ
If you are listening to this episode because you, too, have lost a child, I pray that you find comfort in knowing that our God is a bereaved parent! He gave up His child so that we can have ours back!
Whether you are listening for the first time or you've been a listener for a while, you may or may not know that on June 20th, 2023, I paused the
podcast. Since then, we lost our daughter.
I recently released a new episode discussing how I processed our year of firsts by creating Grief Conversation Cards. You can learn more in episode 236 and at cherifletcher.com. Thank you, Cheri
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