Writing On Dark Pages

In this month’s Premier Christianity an article headed ‘The Ultimate Betrayal’ starts ‘When Megan’s marriage collapsed amid revelations of serious sexual crime and infidelity…’

Megan tells her story, describing her feelings of betrayal and failure as love and trust collapsed, the kind, generous friends who supported her, her faith journey through the toughest of times: ‘I couldn’t recover what had been lost. But I discovered something better: God had not restored the old life. He had made something new. Not a return to what had died, but the quiet astonishment of something raised.’

Yesterday was Easter Sunday. We heard the story of Mary seeing the stone rolled away, lingering in the garden alone. Jesus has been brutally executed and his body has gone. She’s distraught. She wants things back the way they were. Then she meets the risen Jesus and discovers something, someone new.

The family came round for lunch. Seven of us were sitting round the table for Granny’s Sunday roast… Granddaughter-Hannah is home from university. Soon she will return for her final term. She was talking about applying for jobs, finding somewhere to live. She won’t be able to return to an old Hannah-life at home or uni. She’ll discover a new way of living.

I returned to Megan’s story: ‘…every story bends towards redemption. Not that every wound is undone. Not that every marriage is saved. Not that every scar fades. But that God does not stop writing when the page goes dark.’

The God that ‘doesn’t stop writing when the page goes dark’… It’s the Easter story that Mary discovered… that I pray… for friends living with bereavement, dementia, incurable illness… for Hannah, whatever her future holds… for myself continuing to discover through uncertainty.

Megan concludes: ‘I would never have chosen this story. But I have discovered that even here, God remains. And for anyone walking this road now, that is not a small hope. It is enough. It is life where I only thought death could be.’