Joy in the Trenches began as a series of Facebook posts written during and after the final illness and death of my daughter, Kirstin Aileen Wheeler (1983 to 2019). I usually don’t post very much, but I was driven to write out the unfathomable sorrow that engulfed my family March 23rd as our Lord guided us through this very dark period of our lives (and continue to guides us). I’ve lost grandparents, a younger brother, and parents. Then I lost a child. All loss is devastating, but losing your child is like the wound from a morgul blade. It never heals. (I’m a fan of The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.) We all suffer. How can we avoid it if we live in this fallen world? The question I’ve pondered my whole life was, “How can you hold on when the evil day comes?” Yeah. I was a strange child. Anyway, come along with me. I hope you can glimpse the answer God gave. Anyway, it’s always more comforting when you’re not alone as you travel on this road of life.
April 2, 2019 Funny. When all you want to do is sit in a corner and cry (and perhaps suck your thumb), this pops up. When Christ faced death and suffering, He loved and served those God gave Him. It takes courage to do that. But Jesus is on the move, and so I am...
My daughter is gone. They are still keeping her heart pumping, oxygen is still flowing into her lungs, drugs are still going through her body, but her brain is gone, so in reality, Kiki never made it out of the ER. Her real Life started Tuesday, and I wouldn’t take...