Al came running to me, looking distraught and frustrated. He said with such pleading eyes, “Henry, tell me something I need to hear.”

I had the time that it takes to walk from the coffin to a couch to figure out what to tell him. I needed to pray! The question was, did God have something to say to him in this difficult time, using me as His instrument?

I thought of a passage of Scripture, but I said to myself, I cannot read that to him. This man was upset and deeply troubled. Anyway, I forced myself to tell him, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:2).

Who wants peace at a time like this? Society dictates that you should be unhappy and miserable. What do you do with a verse that says, “rejoice always,” now? What do you do with a verse that says, “in everything give thanks,” now? Or “pray without ceasing?” Do you conclude that these verses do not apply in a situation so full of grief as death? What do you say when your friend reaches out an empty hand and says, “Help me!”?

I said to Al, “Now is the time for you to decide if the Bible means anything to you or not. Second Corinthians 1:3-4 tells us, “Blessed 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 tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” Al, if you could be comforted, would you want to be?”

“I do not know,” Al replied.

When the pastor stood up to speak at the funeral, he said, “I never had this happen before, but Al wants to give the message.”

Al said, “As I stood by the coffin and watched the people pass by, everybody looked so hopeless and desperate. But I want to tell you that I have found the source of comfort. I just want to remind you that at an occasion like this God will comfort you. But only one person reminded me of God’s comfort.”

We are all faced with the daily choice of whether or not to submit to the Lord.  Which way will you choose?

This story is taken from Dr. Brandt’s book, “The Power of the Call.” The names and certain details in this true case history have been changed to protect each person’s identity and privacy.

Ken quit school in the tenth grade to work as a messenger boy in the office of a big factory. He was determined to do better than his dad and to provide properly for his family.

He met Megan, and they seemed meant for each other. He was 19 years old and she was 18 when they were married. They both worked hard to furnish a little apartment.

A few months later, Ken went off to war, and three lonely years went by. Ken came back and found Megan waiting for him in their lovely apartment. It was easy to resume their life together.

Megan had come from a close-knit, happy family. Stability and dependability were taken for granted in her life. The war years were good to Ken in that he had learned to be a machinist in the navy. He got a skilled job in the factory where he had worked before the war. Ken did just what he said he would do—provide a proper home for his family.

Ken became foreman of a large milling machine department, responsible for the supervision of more than 100 men. He had 17 years seniority, a good pension plan, prospects for promotion, a home on one of the nicer streets in town, membership in a good church, and a host of Christian friends. Then it happened. His company was having trouble in sales. His department was cut to 15 men. But his boss assured Ken that his job was safe.

Then one day, the boss called Ken into his office and said, “Ken, things don’t look good. In order to economize, we must combine two departments. You still can have a job here if you want to go back to running a machine.”

What a blow! Megan came to the rescue and emphasized that this was not a matter of Ken’s doing a poor job. With her encouragement, he regained his balance and worked hard again at the machine.

Then came another blow: the plant went bankrupt. Along with it went Ken’s job, his seniority, and his pension plan.

Ken was stunned. As he sat in my office, he was a picture of complete dejection. His wife met with me previously and shared their story. She had persuaded him to come, but he had no desire to talk. He was a tough man, and it was pathetic to see an occasional tear run down his cheek.

Since he wouldn’t talk, I asked his wife to join us and I said to both of them, “Let me give you something to think about. You are Christians. You love God and His Word. Consider this in His Word, “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things'” (Philippians 4:8). Then I read part of the story of Jonah to them; the part where Jonah was mad at God.

“That’s easy for you, sitting behind that desk,” Ken retorted when I had finished.

I could say little more to him, but when Ken came for his next appointment, he was a changed man. “I don’t need to see you anymore! You were right. I was good and mad at God, just like Jonah. I have asked God to forgive me and show me the next step. I know He will. What a relief to renew my trust in Him.”

We parted on this note: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and depart from evil” (Proverbs 3:5-7).

A devoted, dedicated wife, and a sure faith in God led Ken out of his dilemma.

The names and certain details in this true case history have been changed to protect each person’s identity and privacy.

But three days after their church’s biggest funeral in years, the facts began leaking out–Harry Chase had left his family penniless. He had spent all that he had, even mortgaging his home and business, on another woman.

There was nothing left for Sybil to do but move to a small apartment and get a job. She found one, as a shirt-ironer in a laundry. If it is worlds apart to iron someone else’s clothes rather than to have others iron yours, it is even more jolting to see the crowd you once mixed with draw away and leave you.

Sybil felt alone in a cruel world. Her heart was too crushed to listen to the chatter of her fellow laundry workers. Steve Wells, her boss, was the only person in her new, constricted world who seemed to make sense.

Steve, she found out first at coffee breaks, then in drives home from the laundry, and later over the desk as his bookkeeper, had come to Arlington a few months before to start life over. His story, she learned, was as tragic as hers. His wife had deserted him more than a year ago.

“Does she want a divorce?” Sybil asked one evening as she sat in his car before her apartment.

“No,” said Steve. “There’ll be no divorce – my wife is dead!”

“Oh, Steve!” She felt a stab of pain for him.

“She was on her way to Reno when her car smashed into a truck.”

Coffee breaks, frequent dinner dates, drives home, shopping sprees in the city for Sybil’s children–all their times together were beginning to mean a great deal to Sybil and Steve because of the deep sympathy each felt for the other. Sympathy led to mutual concern, and this, in a few weeks, turned to thoughts of marriage.

Steve Wells offered Sybil Chase the security of a growing business, a large and comfortable home, resumption of her standing in the community, and most important–a chance to start anew with one who knew all about a broken heart.

They found that in their backgrounds they had much in common. But one difference stood out–Sybil’s Christian faith.

“I’ve never been exposed much to religion,” Steve said when Sybil asked him to accompany her to church. He admitted, though, that he admired her “touch with God.” She could teach him more.

They were soon married. Sybil was glad to get away from the laundry and back to taking care of her children full-time. As Mrs. Wells, she picked up where she had left off as Mrs. Chase. Eventually, she and Steve were to have a baby of their own.

But while Sybil carried the child, she also carried a weighty burden. She had learned that Steve was a virtual tyrant. And one day he let slip the fact that the laundry was almost bankrupt. The big beautiful house they lived in would go to the creditors.

One night, they quarreled bitterly. In a fit of rage, Steve struck her several times. Then he left town to go back to the city he had come from. Again Sybil was alone–disillusioned and dejected. Again she had to move. This time she was forced to apply for public welfare assistance. Her case supervisor suggested that she seek counseling.

After Sybil came to me, my first task was to help her sort out the problems in her life.

Most of her problems seemed to center around Steve. He frequently telephoned her long-distance, always reversing the charges. And she always accepted the calls–hopeful that a change was developing. He often came to visit her on weekends and wanted to see their baby. And he always gave his attractive wife plenty of attention. Clearly, his visits were to satisfy himself.

In our counseling sessions, Sybil spoke of how she was burning with anger about both of her marriages. She said she had come to hate all men because they made her feel inferior. They had robbed her of self-respect.

I encouraged her to examine objectively her assertion of inferiority. To be inferior, I said, means to be incompetent. In what area was she a failure: in appearance, as a mother, in her personality, in business sense?

She saw that in claiming inferiority, she was only fooling herself. In reality, she was deeply resentful that life had given her a dirty deal. To help her, I pointed to Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you may trust in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Then, I had her turn to James 3:17, which she read aloud, “But the wisdom that is from heaven is first of all pure, then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”

She decided to trust the Lord for joy and peace and wisdom, asking forgiveness for walking out of God’s will. And in the following weeks, she found Christ was as good as His word. Her muddled mind began to clear. She was able to distinguish what was reasonable and what was unreasonable.

Was it, for example, reasonable to accept Steve’s collect phone calls that ate into her meager income?

Was it reasonable to allow him to visit her simply for the pleasure he got out of their being together?

Was it reasonable to pin him down as to what he was going to do about their marriage?

Was it reasonable to expect that he was going to support his child?

Sybil’s self-respect and self-confidence returned when, as a reasonable woman, she stood up to Steve.

At one time during this period, she considered moving away to find a new start. But she then decided against it. She felt she had to prove to her neighbors that she was not the tramp that Steve’s visits had made her appear. Instead, she enrolled in the local college to take night classes toward becoming a dietician, a career that she had once thought she might pursue. After obtaining her degree, it wasn’t hard to get a job in a nearby hospital, and from it, to adequately support her children and herself.

She was still not sure what Steve intended to do. But she was determined to go along with no arrangement except that which was a serious attempt on his part to make their marriage what it ought to be.

She is working on the mess she is in. She is trusting the Lord for the outcome. Once she reached out to the Lord by faith and received strengthening for her inner life, she began doing something effective about her circumstances.

She has quite a trail behind her and an uncertain road ahead. But she is trusting God, and finding Him faithful. She is sure He will see her through.

The names and certain details in this true case history have been changed to protect each person’s identity and privacy.