Inspiring Words: An Interview with Trish Perry - Part I

re: Oct. 2006 interview with the author of The Guy I'm Not Dating, published by Harvest House: "...Trish: In 1987 my sister took a bad fall down the stairs at my parents’ home. She was in a coma for ten days, during which time the doctors kept changing her prognosis. She couldn’t possibly survive her injuries; she might survive in a vegetative state; she might survive with most of her faculties; she would probably not survive. I sought guidance from a secular counselor. “They keep changing their minds,” I said. “I don’t know what to pray.” I did believe in God and His power; I simply hadn’t accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior yet. But I didn’t know that. My counselor said, “Why don’t you just pray that He’ll help you accept whatever His will is for your sister?” That sounded right to me. When I prayed that prayer, I had Jesus in mind. The peace He gave me was tangible, and I accepted His will. I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to hold onto that peace, so I started reading the Bible and turning every concern over to Him. When my sister died, the peace remained, within the grief, because I had accepted that He was in control, whether or not I understood why. Then, one evening as I read my Bible, I was overwhelmed with the feeling of what it would feel like to allow my daughter, my only child, to die for the sake of total strangers. For the sake of evil people who didn’t even notice. For my sake. I felt what God and Jesus had sacrificed for me, and the gratefulness was deeper than any emotion I’d felt before. Regardless of what’s happened since that evening, I’ve never lost that initial peace, because He’s in control and I know how much He loves me..."...