Learning to See When the Lights Go Out

What started as one resource designed to help turn hearts toward our God when they are facing frightening circumstances and loss has developed into a vision of producing and distributing hundreds of thousands of resources that offer hope and help to hurting people. A few years ago a physician friend asked us to produce a booklet or CD that he could give to patients who were facing life threatening illnesses. He said that he only had five minutes with such people and it wasn't enough time to explain how they could face any circumstance with strength if they knew Jesus. Because of our own life journey and struggle to reconcile God's love with His sovereignty when our youngest child, Mark, died in a car accident, our friend thought people would listen to us.

His request coupled with our own need to have a resource to give to grieving parents led us to develop the Learning to See When the Lights Go Out resource library. The response to the first two interviews, Loss of a Loved One and Breast Cancer, reminded us of the power of story telling. For reasons only God knows, people trusted us to handle their stories of loss and redemption in a way that could offer help and hope to hurting people. We added interviews on Terminal Illness; Alcoholism, Help and Hope; Dying with Dignity and Grace; Autistic Spectrum Disorders, Speaking Hope; First Responders: Wounded Healers and our news mini-series, Coming Home from War. We will soon launch The Ultimate Sacrifice, two interviews with Gold Star families whose loved ones did not come home from war. Because of the generous support of God's people, we have produced and distributed thousands of these resources free of charge to people experiencing these life crises. My personal goal is that one day we will have resources that address over 200 topics and that when people are faced with life-altering circumstances, the first place they turn for help will be MARKINC Ministries.

In less than two weeks we will travel to Ft. Hood to begin production of a resource that addresses Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The more we learn about this horrific life journey, the more we wonder if our resources will really offer help and hope to our military families. The needs are so enormous. What good is a one hour interview? How much help and hope does it really give? As I struggled with this question, I remembered that a friend described MARKINC Ministries as a spiritual and emotional triage unit where our resources act as tourniquets that slow down the blood flow from the hemorrhaging heart. When the lights in a person's life go out, they need to hear from a fellow traveler that hope is real and dawn is coming. Such stories give power to broken people to take a deep breath and perhaps consider the life-giving message of Jesus. Our hope is that they will find more resources on our website that will feed the deep needs of their souls.

In the months and even years after Mark's death, I desperately needed to hear from other bereaved parents that one day the ache in my chest would break, that I wouldn't always physically hurt, let alone constantly cry. Just seeing another bereaved parent smile gave me hope that one day I could smile again. Less than two years after Mark's death, a friend connected me with a freshly grieving mother. My own grief was so sharp I didn't think I had anything to offer this broken woman. At the end of our conversation I told her so and she stopped me and whispered, "Your voice is strong, that gives me hope that one day my voice will be strong, too." My story, broken as it was, gave hope in that moment.

Jesus used stories to teach and we are following His example in using stories to help stop the hemorrhaging of a broken heart.

Do you have a story of help and hope? Perhaps it's time for you to offer your life journey as a means to help turn hearts toward our God.

In His grip,

Sharon