Today’s Saturday Spotlight is from Martina Randall
Our daughter, Brittany, was born in September 1988. At 3 weeks of age, she, and several other children were featured in the local newspaper under the heading, What Do These Pastors Hold in Common? The pastors were surrounded by children as they all stood in agreement for the value of children – precious in His sight; the sanctity of human life.
Years later, Brittany found herself in a crisis pregnancy and at Planned Parenthood. I believe the Lord brought this picture to Brittany’s mind, which prevented her from following through with
an abortion. At 30 years of age, she spiraled and sadly listened to her friends, who told her that her standards for finding a decent husband were too high! So she compromised….
The pregnancy was surrounded by extreme emotional abuse from the sperm donor and well-intensioned solutions by family members. And here he came…Gideon was born in June 2019.
Even though every day life was challenging for Brittany, his birth and life brought her so much incredible joy.
During covid, Brittany and Gideon moved to TX to live with her sister, Kim, and brother-in-law, Landon. Tesley and Gideon were only 10 months apart. Even though they were cousins, they grew up like siblings. Mikkaela, Brittany and Kim’s youngest sister, joined them in TX in 2021.
Shortly before his 3rd birthday in May 2022, a simple walk to the mailbox with his mom, Brittany, ended in tragedy as Gideon was hit by a car. He was immediately ushered into the presence of Jesus and our lives were forever changed.
How do you move on from this? How do you “recover,” if that is even possible?
As a family, Jesus showed us this verse, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.” (John 13:7)
Pictured below is a magnolia tree at the sight of the accident. Brittany is adding balloons to his tree in memory of this 3rd birthday. This tree is now decorated for all celebrations.
The Bible says, “The joy of the Lord is my strength.” Where was the joy in this? In the moment, it was as if Jesus took my face in His hands and said, “Look at me” (think of Peter walking on the water). Then Jesus said that I can have joy in this situation because Gideon has the ultimate joy! I had to ponder (and keep pondering this thought a lot!)
Brittany’s work colleagues organized a rock-painting event. Soon Gideon rocks were painted and placed all over the world, as some even went to Canada and Europe!
Gideon would call Landon Hena and then he would laugh and laugh.
How do we go on? Well, Brittany shares her story (at crisis pregnancy centers, Grief share groups, and small church groups). The rest of us talk about God’s faithfulness in times of grief. Collectively, we have had many opportunities to share our hope in Jesus with
parents/grandparents whose children died before them. (It’s not supposed to be this way!)
God shows us tangible ways of loving us – He reminds us continually when we find coins or sometimes even bills, that are inscribed with In God We Trust. We have found hundreds of coins. We take pictures of every find to remind ourselves that we can trust Jesus.
The Bible says that those of us with His hope do not mourn like those who have no hope. Amen! As a family, we are hanging on to His promises.
-Martina
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