Can God Really Do That?

Together, Dan and I have nine grandchildren—a toddler, two out of high school, and six kids in the middle.

My new daughter-in-law, Azla, sent a photo of The Middles taken at our wedding. All six of them are sitting at a picnic table wearing smiles that range from impish to goofy. They had only met the day before.

The Middles

The Middles are comprised of Azla’s son and her husband’s daughter from previous marriages, my three adopted grandsons born on a different continent, and my bio granddaughter who now shares her parents with five other siblings.

“Each kid here has a story and became family due to loss,” reflected Azla in her text message. “Jack and Maddie became siblings due to divorce. Lydia and the boys became siblings due to poverty. And now they’re all family from two great losses,” referring to Dan’s wife Charlene and my husband Gary, who both died of cancer.

Even though each of The Middles has experienced his/her own loss, part of the good that God brought from their heartaches is they’ve become “cousins” (their word) as they’ve gotten better acquainted at family get-togethers over the past year and a half. Dan’s heart and mine have expanded to take in more people to love. No accidental family.

This thought from author and speaker Ann Voskamp:

And for a string of moments, I remember that I get to live into the dare that though there is suffering in this world, though there is dying of the loveliest and most loved … there’s the grace of a miraculous communion of all the broken. There’s the dare to come to the feast to be shared.

We live on a broken planet, and God wasn’t the one who broke it. War. Human trafficking. Broken homes. Cancer. Hunger. Abandonment.

Yes, there is suffering and death on this earth. But there’s also the miracle of the heartbroken getting a second chance at joining together in new kinship.

What if God knows how to restore and renew and repurpose? And what if we, despite our sorrow and loss, could come together and share in the feast? He does. We could.

Our daughter-in-law finished her text message: “Life is hard and can be tragic, but also full of surprises.”

The Apostle Paul dictated these words in a familiar letter written to the Church in ancient Rome:

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose.” – Romans 8:28

Can God really bring good out of our hard places? Absolutely. These treasured children have become family—not by accident, but by divine appointment. One big noisy, happy, beautiful mess.