Dear Daughters

Where is God when things go terribly wrong? John Ray has been my friend for a very long time. He is the pastor of Grace Church of Northwest Arkansas in Fayetteville, a missionary and a spiritual director … and he knows firsthand about suffering. John says these four things about himself: “I’m adopted, which has been one of the forming experiences of my life.” “I am married to a phenomenal introvert. Jane Ray is a fantastic woman.”  “I’m the dad of four daughters who are all radically different, one of whom we lost when she was 10 years old.”  “I feel like I won the lottery and didn’t buy a ticket by getting to do what I do.” John was in the eighth-grade classroom with me when our classmate and friend walked in with a rifle and shot and killed our teacher. His mother attempted suicide not long after. He struggled with the reality of being adopted. And he lost his daughter, Olivia. But John says this: “If I really find the courage and grace to go into the deepest wounds that I have … God is there. He has neve