This next post is transparent and tender, a story shared with all of you with Devin’s permission.

It was 12 years ago this month that Devin went through a very painful and unwanted divorce after 22 years of marriage. He was in a season of heartbreak, mourning the loss of how he thought his life would go; his dreams for his future and family felt bleak. Perhaps you have walked through a valley season in life where you felt like your life was over or where it was hard to imagine laughing or finding joy again? 

Devin found himself at this low point in his life, when his sister, Shelley, asked him to chaperone a group of high schoolers going on a trip to Sierra Leone. This is a country recently listed as the 7^th poorest country in the world with 53% of the population living on less than $1.25 a day. 

 This West African country has worked so hard to rebuild from a devastating Civil War in which 50,000 people were killed and over 2 million were displaced. While Sierra Leone remains firmly on the path toward peace, democracy and sustainable development, the loss of life and major socio-economic hardships sustained from that Civil War and the Ebola virus have been long-lasting and brutal.

From Devin’s vantage point while visiting there, the needs were overwhelming and his sense of inadequacy to do anything to help was overshadowing his typically optimistic outlook. It was a very challenging trip, to say the least, and he remembers thinking at the time that he had zero desire to ever return. 

But God had other plans.

Fast forward to October 2021. Devin and I had just spent a couple of jam-packed days in Sierra Leone, literally filled from sunup to sundown with activities, meetings, and new experiences. After taking the girls to school in the morning, we walked through the local market where we met dozens of the women participating in the grantee program. It was so inspiring to see their joy, determination, dignity, and hard work as they are using the grants received to grow their businesses and support their families.

 After the girls finished their homework that evening, we joined them for dinner, played dodgeball and UNO together, and then a huge rainstorm rolled in. I ran for cover but was surprised and delighted to see that the girls did not want to go inside. Instead, they danced in the rain and giggled so sweetly.

These had been full days. The 100’s of women genuinely dedicated to the Salone Rising grantee program humbled us. We were beyond thrilled to see the 17 MamaLand daughters thriving, being educated and so, very happy. What a privilege it was to witness firsthand just how many lives are being impacted by your support and partnership!

As we were heading back to the room where we were staying, we stopped in our tracks when I literally gasped out loud. It was a thought that had never crossed my mind before, a startling epiphany. I grabbed Devin’s hand and whispered to him, “Look around, honey. None of this would be happening here if your wife had not left you.” 

He and I stood there, hands joined, with salty, hot tears streaming down our faces. 

Twelve years ago Devin found himself at a crossroads in his life. At 45 years old, he was most likely well past the halfway point of his life. Candidly he shares that he felt broken and very lonely, disillusioned with the way life was not going at all how he had planned. 

Yet God would not let him un-see what he had seen. After that high school trip, he could not forget about the awe-inspiring people of Sierra Leone, working tenaciously to survive each day. His eyes had welled with tears he hid under his sunglasses when the village chief brought dozens of children in front of him, many orphaned without any family to take care of them. The chief pleaded with him, “Will you do something to help these children?”

What felt like the biggest tragedy of his life, the greatest sorrow, like the end of his story, was just the beginning of something truly special.

Isn’t it remarkable how it feels like there is a period at the end of a sentence in our lives but then God graciously surprises us with a dot, dot, dot?

Look at what all God has done through the hesitant willingness of one regular guy, an admitted business nerd who went to a tiny college in Oklahoma that most have never heard of, who saw a need and was open to do something, anything, to help? Out of the ashes of divorce and great loss has emerged such beauty. Only God can transform the lowest, hardest, most unplanned seasons of our lives into something more than we could have ever dreamed. 

Thoughts for the day: Perhaps God wants to turn some loss or sadness in your life into something beautiful? Maybe what seems like the end of your story and your joy is only the beginning of the next meaningful chapter, yet to be written…