One Sunday morning, Albertine and I headed out to the weekly Bible study we conduct at the edge of town. We arrived to find the quarter in mourning. The family that lives next to where we meet had lost a child the previous night. The little girl had been playing and eating and appeared to be fine. Then she’d come down with a fever, and before they could even get to the hospital, she had died. I don’t know what killed her. It could have been a satanic attack, or it could have been a real sickness.

When I heard the story, I asked Albertine if she felt up to talking with the grieving young mother and comforting her. “If I talk with her,” Albertine told me, “I’m afraid I’ll start crying. The pain is so fresh.” Albertine lost her young son not too long ago. I encouraged her to talk to the mother, but I left it up to her.

A few minutes later, Albertine gathered her courage and went over to the young lady, who was sobbing as she held her remaining child, a newborn. An older lady was telling the mother she shouldn’t cry—that it was bad luck to cry for one child while holding another. Albertine told the older lady to go easy on her, and she sat with the young woman and sympathized with her. She took the baby from her so she could relax and compose herself. Then she invited her over to sit with us at our meeting. The young lady hadn’t ever joined our meetings before, but this time she came over and sat beside Albertine.

To show our sympathy, our group didn’t sing that day. Instead, we prayed for the family and then had our story. Since we hadn’t covered the subject of death yet, I told them that next week we would talk about what the Bible says about death. I told them to invite the people of the quarter who might be interested.

The next Sunday when we met again, the young mother was there to listen and learn. Afterwards, as we were heading home, Albertine and I talked about how she’d been able to witness to the young woman. I told Albertine that God sometimes lets us go through trials so we can help others. At the time, we don’t know why we are going through the difficulties, but God can bring good out of bad situations. The tragedy in her life had prepared her to be a comfort and a blessing to someone else.

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