Stories at The Well
WELL STORIES
Faithfulness We Can See
On Sunday, in an upper elementary classroom at The Well, the faithfulness of God was not merely taught from the pages of the minor prophets. It was quietly declared by a 8-year old who knows through her own body and story what it means for the Lord to sustain His people.
During one of our Sunday gatherings, something unfolded in one of our elementary classrooms. Of all mornings, and of all topics, it happened during a lesson on four of the minor prophets—a lesson centered on the steady faithfulness of God toward His people, even when they were not faithful to Him. As the discussion drew to a close, the final question was simple:
“How have you seen God’s faithfulness in your life?”
Kevin, one of our kids volunteers, was serving in the elementary classroom that day and asked the question. As the students considered the question, he looked up from his lesson plan and noticed that only one girl was looking back at him: Ruby.
She (or anyone), had not answered the question yet, so he gently asked her again how she had seen God’s faithfulness in her family’s life. After a second long pause, he redirected and asked whether her family would spend Thanksgiving together, hoping to draw out something she was thankful for.
Ruby smiled and said, “Yes, but that’s not what I was going to say.” So she began to share.
“When I was a baby, I had cancer in my brain. My parents didn’t think I would survive, but God took care of me, and now I’m okay.”
The room grew quiet. While Kevin had served in our kids ministry for a few years, and had seen Ruby use a walker week to week, he realized that he had never actually heard her story.
One of the students asked what cancer was. A new discussion unfolded. It became clear that many of the children did not understand. Ruby calmly explained that a spot on her brain had grown too large and was pressing against the rest of her brain, so she needed surgery immediately. Her older sister, Wren, helped everyone understand how serious and frightening it had been for their family. As Wren shared, Ruby smiled—she knew that God’s faithfulness had proven stronger than her cancer.
“I was so encouraged by Ruby sharing her story, I had to share my excitement with her mom, Jessie,” Kevin shared. “As I shared with her, I could tell she was feeling a mix of emotions. I assumed Ruby had shared this story many times, so I was a little surprised by her reaction.”
But Jessie shared with Kevin what had made this remarkable: that Ruby had chosen to actually share; that Ruby had not actually felt confident in sharing her story previously.
But what no one in that classroom knew was that something else had already taken place that morning in a gym only a couple dozen feet away: prayer to a steady and faithful God.
But what no one in that classroom knew was that something else had already taken place that morning in a gym only a couple dozen feet away: prayer to a steady and faithful God.
Just minutes before Ruby spoke up in class with Kevin, Jessie had gone to an elder to pray over her daughter, as that Sunday had marked Ruby’s seven-year cancer diagnosis anniversary.
Jessie and her husband, Cale, had been wrestling with difficult questions: how to process their own grief and gratitude while honoring Ruby’s emotions and desires. How to help her navigate her feelings toward cancer and disability. Hard conversations.
“I specifically asked the Lord to help us navigate how we share and process Ruby’s story because she has been so closed off to discussing or sharing it at all,” she shared. “Any mention of brain or tumor over the past couple of years has been immediately shut down by her, which is challenging since it’s so much a part of our story as a family. It’s been difficult to navigate.”
“And though she doesn’t remember it, it still impacts her today,” Kevin added. “Her family certainly remembers all those hard nights in the hospital where God was with them.”
So when Jessie came to pick Ruby up after the gathering, and Kevin told her that Ruby had shared her story with the class herself, Jessie said she was blown away by her courage.
“It was God’s immediate answer to my prayers,” she said. “I know it was not easy for her to share, but beautiful conversations and peace are growing from that Sunday, and we’re so blessed.”
For the Christian, we serve a God who not only hears our prayers, but a personal God who is our father, who also intercedes for our prayers. One who is again, steady and faithful.
And so that Sunday, while the class was learning about God’s faithfulness, they were also witnessing it in their midst. It was not only a lesson about faithfulness from centuries ago, but a reminder that the same faithful God who sustained His people through exile and wandering, is still sustaining and responding to His people today. That reminder, this time, through the testimony of an 8-year-old girl who knows that God’s faithfulness proved stronger than her cancer.
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