God Still Cares for Us and Carries Us​

These are condensed outtakes of the message Bill Hostetter brought to CFO’s 2023 Outreach Luncheon.

My story isn’t about me. It’s about a God who does do immeasurably more amid our confusion, times of questioning and not always knowing what to ask. It’s a story of pain redeemed, not pain removed. (Romans 8:26-28)

Life was great, but . . .

I was blessed to be born into a family that loved the Lord. I’m grateful for my parents Wilmer and Joyce who really cared for me and my brothers Barry, Bernie and John.

As a boy raised on a dairy farm, we learned early on what hard work was. We also played hard. A lot of our social activities revolved around church, 4H, FFA and sports.

I married my high school sweetheart, Missy. We had two wonderful children, Rebekah and Phillip.

Life seemed good on the surface. Over time though, significant underlying cracks caused by busyness – things like working hard, coaching Little League baseball, playing softball, even church activities – crowded out my devotion to God.

Missy, Rebekah, Phillip and I were far from Christ and not experiencing the joy of our salvation.

So, I prayed a prayer of relinquishment. I gave it to the Lord and It changed me. I didn’t have to fix it.

Within a few weeks, five women came into Missy’s life and invited her to a Bible Study. Rebekah began reading the Left Behind book series. What I didn’t know was it prepared me for the day of December 21, 1999.

Then came the pain

A car accident killed Rebekah and left Missy in a wheelchair. It changed everything about our lives and how we were going to deal with Missy’s physical limitations.

Two and a half years later, Phillip was in a serious motorcycle accident. That took about a year for him to recover from his injuries.

Our family’s journey has been a series of peaks and valleys. But I still hold onto one thing written in Phillip’s handwriting a few weeks before his accident: “It wasn’t pain removed. It was and is pain redeemed”.

And then the redeeming

We don’t have many “why me moments”. We are intentional about embracing life every day together because it’s so fragile.

One thought revealed in the months leading up to my father’s passing was the character, strength and faithfulness of my mother. She modeled her wedding vows of more than 65 years. Our family had a front seat to an incredible marriage.

Slowly their illnesses chipped away at their vibrant health. It was difficult. But both passings were peaceful and God honoring.

We as a family have no regrets! We can grieve without regrets. We can grieve with hope not cut off.

When God redeems our pain and sorrows, it means He uses these feelings and experiences for His good purposes; to strengthen our faith and draw us closer to him, to help us identify with the pain and sorrow Christ experienced.

It means we can use our experiences to help others going through similar trials. In other words, our misery becomes our ministry.

What pain are you holding on to, what circumstance, what broken relationship are you holding on to? Give it to the Holy Spirit so it can be redeemed.

Learn from the paralyzed man

Think about the paralyzed man and his four friends who hoped to lower him on a mat through a roof so Jesus could touch and heal him. (Mark 2: 3-12) They were disappointed, but not without hope.

Verse five said: “When Jesus saw their faith”. Now, don’t build a theological statement on it. But this encounter with Jesus deserves our attention. It really matters who your friends are and who you spend time with. Missy and I are blessed to be placed at Jesus’ feet.

• On one corner of our mat, we have a supportive community.

• On another corner, we have a few faithful caregivers who help with our basic needs.

• On another corner, we have been blessed with Bible believing and teaching pastors. They were and still are instrumental in inspiring us to grow in our knowledge and understanding of what it means to be a Christ follower.

• On our mat’s fourth corner, we are blessed to be members of a supportive family – those who are still with us and those who have passed on. All have helped or influenced us. They are that cloud of witnesses cheering us on to eternity.

This lesson from Mark illustrates how you can support Christian Farmers Outreach. This ministry puts thousands of people at Jesus’ feet for healing and salvation.

• On one corner of the mat are those of you who faithfully volunteer to be on the front line of ministry.

• On the second corner, maybe you can faithfully serve in a supportive role as a new volunteer and new outreaches.

• On the third corner, maybe you can faithfully support CFO financially.

• On that fourth corner are those of you who could faithfully commit to prayer for this ministry. All fruitful ministries that change lives or any revival start with prayer.

Let this thought soak into your heart and mind: We are giving glory to a God who is able to do immeasurably more.