The Way of Hope – Growing Close to God Through Loss
Passing through the valley of the shadow of loss can appear to be
an unending gray, dry, barren journey from which you would never
return. It seems impossible that spiritual life could even continue in
such circumstances, let alone grow. Yet it is especially there, in your
darkest hour, that God will bring you light and new life like you’ve
never known before—if you will see that He is there with you.
Follow The Way of Hope with Beth and Dave Weikel as they lead you
along your own dark paths toward the true light, found only in God’s
Word. They themselves have passed the way of tragic loss several
times and have found always that, through the pain and brokenness,
God’s promises in Scripture become so much more meaningful.
Discover personally what it means to be blessed because you mourn—
what it means to be comforted by God. He promises you there still can
be hope, still new life.
BETH AND DAVE WEIKEL have been using their seasons of
multiple losses to provide biblical hope and healing through
their international ministry, by His design, which provides
workshops, resources, and spiritual support to churches and
communities worldwide.
The Way of Hope
Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Wesleyan Publishing House (October 31, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1632570505
ISBN-13: 978-1632570505
Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
Book Excerpt
HOLD ALL THINGS LOOSELY
It doesn’t take too long as we live in this world to realize things come and things go. All things.
Not long ago, while lying wide awake early in the morning, I was looking at Dave as he slept. I
was thinking, “I want to be with you every day.” It was good he didn’t wake up startled. Soon
my eyes brimmed with tears as I stared right at him. The Lord had given me an unsettling
thought: “It might not be this way tomorrow. He might be gone.”
My dear Lord was reminding me to hold all things loosely, even people. God is the gift giver. He
is the One who so generously gives, and also the One who may take away. It’s His right to do so.
Holding all things lightly is the way we need to live until we are face to face with our heavenly
Father. All He entrusts us with or gives us to enjoy is ours only for a season. “Our times are in
His hand,” as are our families, who He gives us to love and take care of as good stewards. Those
also are His.
It’s better then, when He chooses to remove something He’s loaned us, for Him to not have to
pry it away or unlock our fingers from it. It should not be clutched so tightly that He can’t just
gently take it.
I vaguely remember, from my childhood, “borrowing” something that wasn’t mine to keep and
hearing my mom say, “Open your hand and let me have it.” She was asking me to release my
grip so she could take the object from me. This was uncomfortable at the time, and I really
wanted to keep the thing that attracted me. We didn’t struggle over it, as I recall, but I trusted
she knew what was right. That experience taught me that not all things are mine to keep just
because I want them. Even people or homes or jobs adults lay claim to. These may have to be
forfeited someday. When our perspective is such that we accept the things we love as
temporary, it stings, but doesn’t have to destroy us when they go away. We hold on to what’s
loaned to us loosely, because we are mere stewards, not possessors. It’s all part of living this
life now.
But someday, maybe very soon, God’s Son will return to give us a lasting inheritance that
nothing can take away. If we know Him, it’s already reserved. In the meantime, we are waiting
for that which is permanent and lasting to be revealed.
FIND YOUR CALLING, YOUR HEART, AND LIVE FROM PURPOSE EACH DAY
God wants to use your gifts and talents, along with your newfound compassion to build the
kingdom (see 1 Cor. 15:10).
Has there been ministry in your life because of your loss? Expect it. It might not be what you
think of when you consider ministry. It might be one-on-one at Starbucks with someone you
didn’t even know before you walked in to get coffee. Dave and I talk often about divine
appointments like that in our everyday lives. God has plans for us in relation to others. The
question becomes, are we open to responding to these opportunities?
God has a purpose for all we are walking through. It is a paradox, really. Bad things have
happened to us, yet God uses these same situations to mold us, strengthen us, and prepare us
for a calling that’s unique. I don’t know what this purpose or calling looks like for you, but I am
becoming more aware of God’s calling in my own life. Sometimes, though, I don’t accept my
calling in certain instances.
Most times I have a choice to make as I come in contact with someone: Will I be faithful to what
God is calling me to at this moment? Along with that, each one of us has a unique cluster of
spiritual gifts and complemen tary talents God has given us. We’re simply asked to let Him
develop them and put them into service. There comes a time in loss in which we have to finally
focus on something other than ourselves. This is where calling comes in. Rather than focusing
on what other people say or think, concentrating on building the kingdom of God becomes
more important.
Sharing a purpose behind your loss and the grace and strength you have gained because God
has touched you is now possible. Proclaiming the resurrected Christ by living life dependent on
Him is the message everyone needs to see in practice. In loss God’s Spirit can transform us by
“having the mind of Christ” when we have shared in His sufferings.
As we respond to our unique calling after a life-changing experience, there often seems to be a
sense of urgency. We want to be about the Lord’s business for the time available to us. The
command “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might” resonates with our spirit
(Eccl. 9:10). We are directed to work with a desire to finish the race and do it with everything in
us, depending only on God and His leading. Colossians 3:23–24 (esv) continues this thought, but
also reminds us where our focus is as we reach out: “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the
Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your
reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”
This calling, the work God gives, is to be done unto the Lord and not for men. Dave would
admit, “I can honestly say this has been a glaring problem in my own life. I have cared too much
what people think about me and my ministry. No longer.” Though in a different way, I, too,
have seen this tendency in the work environment. At times I edited my thoughts and held back
because I sensed I was among a group hostile to a Christian point of view. Now, however,
the losses we’ve lived through have purged this distorted, human leaning. God has given us
freedom to do what He wants us to do, although He will periodically test this. As opportunities
present themselves, we may have to confront such fears all over again. Becoming more
sensitive, Dave and I now check each other if we’re aware of this habit reasserting itself.
Selfmonitoring works, too. Dave says, “I’m learning, instead, to make a habit of praying, ‘What
do You want me to do, Lord? I’ll do that.’” What is God telling you to do? Whatever it is, it’s
about pleasing Him and Him alone.
About the authors
Dave and Beth Weikel have worked in full-time ministry, business, and public education for
over 30 years. God is using their season of loss to provide hope and healing for others. About 6
years ago, the couple underwent an intense period of loss - a life-threatening illness, the death
of their son serving in Iraq, strained family relationships surrounding this event, elder care and
the home-going of three parents in less than a year, a near-fatal car accident of their other son
and a few others.
Trained as a disaster relief chaplains, and former career educators with experience in full-time
ministry, Dave and Beth have walked through their own intense season of loss. Its heartbreak
and upheaval has taught them to cling to what cannot be taken away and has challenged them
to wring purpose and meaning from those times of suffering.
“God has afforded us opportunities to proclaim a clear message of hope and redemption
through discipleship, partnering with local, national, and international organizations that reach
out to desperate populations looking for answers and help.”
Dave’s Biography
After being discipled into ministry through Peninsula Bible Church’s Intern Program, Dave
Weikel has been a pastor in the Colorado Springs area and also served as a church
administrator in California. His ministry could be categorized as verse-by-verse Bible teaching,
creative outreach ministries, and in-depth discipleship of men. Dave also was a teacher and
school administrator focused on leadership skills to aid organizations.
"When God calls us into a season of loss and grief, He becomes our all and all. He meets us and
builds into our lives a dependence on Him, so “that we do not rely on ourselves, but on God
who raises the dead” (II Corinthians 1:9). My desire is to share this message of dependence on
the sufficiency of Christ."
Beth’s Biography
Beth has been the mother of two talented and godly sons, and is the grandmother of a curious
and outgoing seven-year-old, Ian’s son, who was nearly eight months old when a roadside IED
killed his daddy during his second tour in Iraq, while doing his command with Ghost Troop.
Beth been a pastor’s wife, published writer of articles and features and editor of a Christian
newsmagazine, a secondary English teacher in public school for over twenty years, a volunteer
in ministry efforts and civic affairs that support healthy community. Since her retirement from
full-time employment, she has rediscovered time to enjoy her continuing interest in art, photography, music, gardening and design. Dave and Beth each facilitate small group
discipleship studies, travel to teach workshops, and provide resources and training online
(www.lifefromloss.com. and www.byhisdesignonline.com).
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