Wheaton College Alumni Magazine Autumn 2013 | Page 49

PUBLISHEDalumni
After Losing a Child
When their 13-year-old daughter, Allison, died suddenly from a cerebral
hemorrhage in 2006, Luke ’84 and Jodi Danielson Veldt ’85 had no warning.
Allison helped teach a Sunday school lesson about heaven in the morning, and
by nightfall, she was gone. The following excerpt comes from the book Luke
wrote after questioning God and wrestling with all that he once held true.

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by Luke Veldt ’84

’ve gained new insight into God’s
faithfulness as a result of my daughter’s
death. It is a comfort to be pushed closer
to a God who can heal all our diseases,
but sometimes chooses not to.
This makes no sense to me; yet I find
that I believe it. God lets terrible things
happen; I can trust God implicitly.
Believing without understanding isn’t
really hard for me. It’s an uncomfortable
fact of my daily existence that certain
things persist in being true even when
I don’t understand them. Things like
electricity and internal combustion and
microwaves and photosynthesis happen
around me all the time, and I don’t
really have a clue how.
But sorting out these thoughts on
suffering has become important to me.
So how can we trust the God who heals
all our diseases, even when he doesn’t
heal all our diseases? I begin with the
premise that Allison’s death was not the
will of God.
I don’t mean to imply that Allison’s
death was beyond God’s foresight or
control. Nothing is outside his control;
he is neither surprised nor dismayed by
the storms that come into our lives. But
God is not the creator of evil; he is not
the author of Alli’s death.
If God’s will is to have any useful
definition, it must be that which he
desires, that which gives him pleasure.
Many things happen that God did not
want and of which he does not approve.

The Lord is not willing that any should
perish, nor is it God’s will that we sin.
Hatred, gossip, greed, rape, murder—
none of these are his will.
Neither is death. We can be angry
with death; we should be angry with
death. Death is not part of God’s perfect
plan for the world, and one day he will
destroy it forever.
Yet I’ve seen God use Allison’s death
to bring good things to my life. He is
transforming that terrible day, giving
it meaning as he transforms me. This
does not mean that he planned Allison’s
death for the purpose of transforming
me. It does give an indication, though,
that his ultimate purpose is not
deterred, derailed, or delayed by any
circumstances. Somehow, against all our
present understanding, it will become
evident in eternity that nothing in

life was as important as that journey to
experiencing God’s good in us. It’s hard
for us to see that now.
“All things work together for good for
those who love God.” This is the promise
that makes suffering bearable. God has
a plan, and the fulfillment of that plan
will overrule anything that we have to
go through to obtain it. Some days I hold
this promise not only firmly but easily.
Other days, my faith is not so strong, and
the prospect of meeting God and Allison
and laughing together with them seems
faint and unlikely.
On those days, I grip that promise even
more tightly.
Adapted from Written in Tears: A Grieving
Father’s Journey Through Psalm 103, ©2010 by
Luke Veldt. Used by permission of Discovery House
Publishers, Box 3566, Grand Rapids, MI 49501.
All rights reserved.

Luke Veldt ’84 (right) and his wife, Jodi Danielson Veldt
’85, have six children, including Nate ’13. They have
been church-planting missionaries for the last 17 years.
Af ter spending 10 years in Romania, they have been
stationed in Pamplona, Spain, for the last 7 years.

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