TERRI’S WITNESS TO THE WORLD

J. Grant Swank, Jr.

Life is utterly complicated at times. Such was the Terri Shiavo situation. Writers have penned ad infinitum on the intertwining dimensions.

But what I see rarely written is about the Christian faith shining forth from Terri. She was a committed disciple of the cross. Her mother related detail concerning her strong faith, even against persecution leveled against her by Michael, her worldly husband. She remained true to Christ.

The whole media-centered world has come to know Terri in past weeks. They have delved into one aspect or another, travailed with family and friends concerning the ongoing suffering, injustices piled high, and then finally Terri breathing her last gasp.

All of the written pieces are important to digest and carry forth to rescue others from Terri’s circumstance. Surely we have learned from her plight. If not, we have not been taking stock of reality as we should.

Yet now with all that significant data taken into consideration, I would like to accent the redemptive good squeezed out of her suffering. In every committed life, there is never a wasted sorrow, Christ showing us the torturous way redemptive.

I would hope that Terri’s parents in particular have come upon the upholding arm of God through this terrible nightmare. That is my prayer for them and those closest to them. I ask the Lord to keep them sane and hopeful with the same commitment that Terri had.

In this world at times there is little to lean upon. Sin has taken its toll on humanity. Evil stalks to right and left. We all live with fears multiplied.

Yet for Christians there is the realization that God is God. He still reigns from heaven’s throne, quite knowledgeable of our anguish. After all, He suffers, too. His very own creation has turned against Him. "He came unto His own and His own received Him not."

Further, this God came to us in flesh and blood. He lived love, grace and mercy. He lived truth and wisdom. He lived healing presence and hope. For that, He was stomped upon. Beaten. Stripped and torn. He was finally thrown to the wood as a piece of meat for bugs’ consumption. Yes, God knows something about pain, suffering, injustice and the hellish heart of the deceitful.

Therefore, knowing that God knows, let us lean now upon Terri’s Christian testimony to God’s presence in her young life. Let us thank God that she was not an unbeliever, living for self and sin, giving her energies to the material and wasting her life on the temporary. That in itself is cause to give God praise for Terri. She was one of those rare ones — an actual believer.

Through then her anguish came forth the world knowing of her plight. There are many other believers in similar situations but suffer in the shadows. That is no doubt fine with them for who would want the center stage in such horrific circumstances? Yet it was in God’s will for us to come to know Terri. However, not just to know of her hanging between fighting factions, but to know her as Christian.

Now that she has been taken home to heaven, all the more the purpose of her being with us is to encourage us to so live for Christ that one day we will see her again. We will be united with believers of all ages, particularly welcomed home by the One torn apart in our stead on Calvary’s Tree.

In what Terri went through, there is the redemptive testimony of her Christian commitment. That simply cannot be sidelined by all the other dimensions covered. That is that which outlasts her earthly trial and will outlast the existence of us all.

So today I thank the Lord that Terri knew Him, that she withstood her husband’s taunts, and that she is now in glory with Christ. I praise God for the fact that in every surrendered life He writes the last word, no matter the injustices and insanity surrounding. God gets in the last word in every yielded life. Always.

Thank you, Christ, for making that possible. Thank you both now and for eternity. Amen and amen.