Lindsay Roberts
Within an hour after our beloved son, Richard Oral, died — after living only 36 hours — I found myself heading out the door of the hospital. Even though I had just given birth, I refused to stay in the same building. I wanted to flee the finality of that painful, overwhelming moment when the heart monitor had sounded its high-pitched, solid tone and produced a straight, unwavering line on its screen.
At the door of the hospital, I was confronted by a nurse. Her words struck me to the core with their coldness and bluntness. She said, “I’ve watched your every move for the last 36 hours. Now that your son has died, how do you feel about God?”
She looked me straight in the eye as if to say, “Are you a hypocrite, or are you for real? Is God real to you only in the good times, or is God still real to you now? Do you only believe God when things are perfect?”
Before I realized what I was saying, something rose up on the inside of me, and I said to her, “My God is a good God. He is the greatest thing I have ever known in my life. Jesus is still my Lord, and it’s only because of Jesus that I will make it through this. I will praise God no matter what.”
Immediately, she said, “You’re real, and so is your Jesus. Please show me how I can accept Him as my Lord and my Savior.”
Richard and I responded by leading her in a sinner’s prayer to receive Christ. There, in the midst of death and almost overwhelming grief, a beautiful new soul was written into the Lamb’s Book of Life in the eternal Kingdom of God. In the depths of my being, I discovered that no matter what circumstances come our way — good or bad — God is still God, and Jesus is Lord of all.
