The Hands and Feet of God
by Jake Brown
Last November, Kelly’s mother, Phyllis, passed away. It was sudden and completely unexpected. Her passing has been the most difficult thing Kelly and I have experienced in our lives, and we are still reeling from the loss. There were moments in the days leading up to her death that our lives felt completely devoid of God’s presence. His apparent silence felt interminable, and Phyllis’s absence felt unbearable. Despite how it felt, we have both looked back and seen God’s hands and feet in action amidst our grief.
Earlier in November, Kelly received a call that Phyllis had fallen into a coma due to a brain bleed. I immediately came home from work when she called, and we began preparations to travel to West Virginia to see her and be with Kelly’s father, Dan. My parents were going to watch our girls, and our friends volunteered to take care of the dogs, so we were able to travel lightly and quickly. Still in shock, we arrived at the airport and sat down near our gate after getting through security with ease. We were there for a few minutes waiting for our flight to arrive before we started receiving notifications on both of our phones. The first one I saw was from a couple in our Marriage Matters class. They had sent us $500 to pay for food and other expenses on our way to West Virginia. And the notifications kept coming for the next few minutes. Words of love and encouragement and monetary support flowed in. As we sat there in the terminal and felt the outpouring of love from those in our community group and in our connection class, we could do nothing but weep. Weep from the pain we were feeling, from the love of our friends and family and from a growing understanding of how God works in our lives. That moment has been etched into my mind, and I will carry it with me into eternity.
A few weeks after our initial trip up to West Virginia, we were on our way back to see Phyllis one more time before she passed away. However, we received a call from Dan right as we were leaving our house. The words “she’s gone” came through the phone and changed our lives forever. In the darkness of that morning, a new and profound anguish nestled itself into our hearts. But we still had a long drive ahead of us, and two kids that needed entertaining. My sister, knowing we had a long journey, had told us she prepared a goody bag of toys and books for my girls to play with on the way. After picking the bag up, we started driving east. It was a long drive, but we eventually made it to Kelly’s old home.
While we were there, two of our dear friends from our small group started asking questions about the timing of the funeral, and how we were doing. After sending them the details, they soon informed us that they were going to fly out to be with us at the funeral. Both Kelly and I were absolutely astounded at this display of generosity and love. The day of the funeral, I looked at both of them and could do nothing but cry in the face of such loving friendship. In one of the most difficult times in our lives, when we felt as if God was nowhere to be found, all we needed to do was look at our friends and family at Council Road to see God’s hands and feet hard at work.
Author Bio
My name is Jacob Brown. My wife is Kelly, and our two girls are Hallie and Elsie. I was born and raised in Oklahoma, and Kelly is from West Virginia. I’ve been a member of Council Road since 2002, and Kelly joined in 2017 after we married. From the Children’s Ministry to Marriage Matters, Council Road and its members have blessed our lives in a variety of ways. However, the greatest impact in recent memory came from our friends in our community group and those in our Marriage Matters Connection Class.