need to preach. This moment of difficulty is not a sign of his unfaithfulness and inattention. It's not a sign of the failure of his promises. It's not a sign of divine forgetfulness. These difficulties are sure sign of the zeal of his transforming love. Sometimes you need the storm in order to see the glory. And so storms will come so glory can be known, so hearts can be transformed, so faith will grow, so you will be usable in the hands of the I Am. What a gorgeous plan. Let's pray. Lord, all I can think of saying in this moment is who is a God like our God? Who has mercy rich and free like this, like our God? Oh, forgive us for being too quickly and too easily satisfied. Forgive us for esteeming ease of life more than we esteem redemption. And we thank you for your unstoppable zeal, to form in us that faith, which is only ever your gift of grace. Thank you. Thank you. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. SESSION 3 Well, I received the call that no parent ever wants to receive. Steve and I were about six hours away from home, Steve, my assistant, doing some recording. And Luella, my dear wife, called me. Now, Luella's very level. Very emotionally level. I'm a passionate man. I'm up and down all over the place. She's very, very level, but I could tell by the shakiness of her voice, by the strength of her emotion, that what I was about to hear was going to be very bad. She said, "Paul, you need to get home as fast as you can because Nicole has been in an accident." She said, "Come quickly." Nicole was walking home from work and a drunk and unlicensed driver driving an SUV careened up on a sidewalk and crushed her against a wall. She had massive injuries. The doctors told us if it had happened in the suburbs, we live right in the heart of Philadelphia, she wouldn't have made it to the hospital. Eleven breaks of her pelvis alone just destroyed the center part of her skeleton. I'd had no idea what I was facing. It seemed like forever for us to get to that hospital. We swung by Maryland and picked up my son from college because we knew we just all had to get there. I walked into that hospital room to see the broken body of my daughter, now sustained by machines. And I did whatever any father who has a twit of love inside of him, I fell apart. And I couldn't think what else to do but to get myself up on the edge of her bed as close as I could to her. And I put my cheek against her cheek. I didn't know how conscious she was, I didn't know what her awareness was, but I whispered in her ear, "Nicole, you're not alone. This is Dad. I'm with you and God's with you, too." She couldn't talk at that moment, but tears streamed down her face. Now, no parent ever wants to go through something like that. But if I could have chosen one of my children, it wouldn't have been Nicole. Nicole seemed particularly vulnerable. And as I was next to her, cheek against her, wanting to be strong, I wasn't strong. And my heart was, "God, why? Why? Why? Why her? Why now?" That kicked in four years of, I can't think of any other word but travail. I didn't go to my office for three months because there was no position where Nicole could be in where she didn't experience horrific pain. We literally sat for months with our hands on her. I don't know when I felt my life so helpless. Luella and I would end emotionally-wrenching days sitting on our bed at night and just weeping. It just came out of us. And it wasn't for Nicole just the physical pain. That was a horrible thing that she was going through. But the city of Philadelphia wanting to get things through the court quickly pled that down to reckless driving and she got no justice whatsoever. And in the process, she lost every one of her friends. They could not deal with her suffering. They forsook her one after another after another until there was no one left. And that kicked in deep, emotional, spiritual battles for her. It was very, very hard. Now, my wife Luella tells me that when I tell this story, I don't finish it and I leave crowds of people in utter trauma. So I'm not going to do that for you. By God's grace, Nicole has had a miraculous physical recovery. I mean, it's just miraculous. And if you saw Nicole, you probably would have no idea of what she's been through.
Transcript: Session 3
WOMEN HELPING WOMEN
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