Heavenly Hope

This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Hope in the Morning. turning tragedies and tears into testimonies of hope.

Sometimes life can feel overwhelming. the loss of a loved one, a health diagnosis, a job loss. The trials in this life can seem endless. But, friend, what if I told you that we can have hope in the midst of our suffering? What if I told you that when everything seems to be swirling around us we can have an anchor that keeps us steady?

What if I told you that our hope is rooted in what we fix our eyes upon? It's rooted in the person of Jesus Christ and our promise of heaven. Joining me today to talk about hardships and the hope of heaven is Pastor Anthony Kidd. Anthony, thank you for joining us today. Oh, I'm delighted, Emily, to be here.

Thank you for the invitation. Yes. Would you mind just letting our listeners know a little bit about who you are and your family and where your ministry is? Sure. Yep.

I'm Anthony Kidd, and I pastor here in Los Angeles, California. I'm a co pastor with six other elders of Community of Faith Bible Church. We meet in Southgate, which is a suburban area of Los Angeles. I'm married to my wonderful wife, Sherry, for 30 years now. Wow.

Yeah, indeed. We got married when we were 15. There you go. Yeah. And we have the joy of having raised five kids.

They range from 26 down to 17. And we now have four grandchildren.

So God has been especially kind to us. Yeah. Yeah. That's wonderful. Five kids.

That is wonderful.

So I know that you have walked your fair share of hardships, as many of us have. Can you tell us about one of your One of your hardships? Yeah, primarily it is my youngest daughter, Julia Grace, who is now 19 years old. And I could just kind of walk you through the story there. She was born really small at about two pounds, 14 ounces.

And just to give you kind of a little backstory to that, you know, my wife's pregnancies have been normal, pretty typical. And she was pregnant with Julia. There was nothing that alerted us that anything was wrong with her. And somewhere right around about 34, 35 weeks, we had gone to her doctor just for a normal routine checkup. And she was receiving an ultrasound at the time.

And we could tell that the doctor was looking a little odd, strange, kind of quiet, didn't really say anything and didn't give us any news, but she just told us that she wanted us to go to the hospital for another ultrasound with a perinatologist, really not telling us anything. And Sherry and the other pregnancies would lose ambionic fluid a little bit.

So we kind of thought maybe that was it, but the pregnancies turned out to be normal.

So we rushed to the hospital. She was getting the ultrasound. And you know, there's a problem whenever the doctor turns the screen of the ultrasound away from you. Yeah. And it was as if all of the oxygen in the room went out.

He turned ashen white. And all I can remember, quite frankly, Emily, is words like Down syndrome, stillbirth, water around the heart, and emergency C-section. Wow. And so I ran down to the car. We had obviously the birthing bag all packed up.

And I grabbed that. I called one of my elders and we prayed together and ran back up to the room. And by the time I got up, they were prepping her for emergency C-section.

So I was allowed in the room, and Julia Grace was born. She was just a little over two pounds, really tiny. And so they allowed Sherry just to rub her cheek. And then wished her off into the NICU, and I went along with her. And that really just started the whole journey for us.

And at that point, we didn't really know what was wrong with her, but that was the beginning of the trials just with Julia Grace. Wow. Anthony, were you already a pastor at this time? Yes, I already was a pastor. And, you know, quite frankly, I had been in that situation with other families, you know, on the other side, as it were, with several of the members of our church.

We have a couple of families that have children with Down syndrome, and I had been at the hospital with there, but this is a little bit different, quite frankly. And I think the biggest thing for us is just not knowing, not having the expectation. You know, just the shock of it all, like, oh boy, prior to this, everything was going along normal with the pregnancy.

So that made it really tough. And so it took us, she stayed in the NICU for about a month, a little over a month. They were running all kinds of tests to try to diagnose what the problem was. Thankfully, all of her organs were working well. She just was so small she couldn't regulate her body temperature, so she had to stay in an incubator.

So that was really hard. You know, we had the other, at the time, the other three children. And Sherry was spending pretty much 24 hours a day, seven days a week there at the NICU with Julie. And I was going back and forth. And she was finally released enough.

She was healthy enough to come home, but we still didn't have any answers at that point.

So it took us about a whole year seeing about approximately maybe seven to ten specialists running all kinds of tests on her, not knowing she was having trouble gaining weight, maintaining weight. She was having trouble eating. And it was just really, really difficult, you know, trying to balance all of the doctor's appointments with her. And at the time, my wife was homeschooling the other three children.

So it was a balancing act. We had a wonderful church community that was coming alongside of us. And it was really, really helpful for them to kind of step up and share the load with us.

So you said that in that initial ultrasound around 34 or 35 weeks that they were saying words like Down syndrome. But then once Julia was born, is that when they realized that it wasn't Down syndrome, that it was something else? Yeah, that's when they realized that because they ran some tests in the NICU, and it wasn't that, which is you know, trisomy I forget uh 29 or 26 or whatever it's called. Um, it was not that. Um, all of her organs were functioning properly, her size, head proportion was normal.

They just could not understand why she was so small and why she wasn't gaining weight and holding weight. Um, it was as if she grew to a certain Point in utero and just stop growing. And they didn't realize it. And we still to this day don't have the answers why we weren't told, you know, during because we got all the normal scheduled ultrasounds and everything, but you know, that's neither here nor there.

So eventually we got a diagnosis. Like I said, about a year out, a geneticist that we had not seen before knew of tests that were only conducted in Utah and in the state of Washington.

So they did a pretty significant drawing of blood and shipped the blood out to the state of Washington and it came back. And Julia's. Um, diagnosis is so rare, it doesn't actually have a name. Wow, it's called 19P duplication, which just simply means that the top. Part of her 19th chromosome duplicated, and which affects obviously all of her other chromosomes.

It presents itself with global delays. She's 19 years old now, and she's four foot two, and on a good day, she's 80 pounds.

Okay, wow. Yes. And she's on the autism spectrum, and she has bone deformities and chronic pain. And But she's a joy of our life. And yep, and she's got quite a story, quite a testable.

Yeah. Does she able to communicate? She's verbal and can communicate, and we're grateful for that. She's actually in school. She goes to a public school and she's in a special needs class.

You know, she can't read, and she could do a little spot reading, and she could trace words out. But her vocabulary has grown over the years, and she's able to communicate. She'll circle through. She has about. Maybe about 20, 25 questions in her toolkit.

And once she finishes those questions, she'll just circle back and ask those again. Yeah, but uh it was a real challenge though early on because The rarity of her diagnosis was such that there was no prognosis for us. The doctor told us that maybe she might make it to five. The doctor told us that probably she would not be able to walk and or communicate at all. And so we kind of entered into life with Julia, expecting the worst.

You know, we were prayerful and hopeful, but really didn't have anything to go with because there's really no other patients that at least our doctors here in Southern California knew about where we can kind of reach out to them and kind of get an idea of what to expect. Yeah. Does that make it feel... like a little bit more of a lonely journey when it's a unknown when it's when it's a diagnosis that is not very well known. Yeah, I would say so.

I mean, it would have been great if we could have plugged into a community, you know, some other parents and other families who had kind of walked the journey that we were just beginning to walk, but it wasn't.

So, yeah, it's a real test of faith, Emily. I got to say, it was a real test of faith of just. Growing in trusting the Lord. And as you asked me, I had already been a pastor for a long time. You know, I preached the sovereignty of God in suffering and encouraged congregations and families and individuals to trust the Lord, even when they didn't have the answer.

But, you know, It came home with a fresh force to me and my family, you know, and particularly, and I think especially as a father. One of our main responsibilities and privileges is the protection of our families. And it was just. Very humbling. Uh, to know that I not only couldn't protect her, but I didn't even have answers, and quite frankly, I didn't even have the questions to even ask.

Um, so if I could put it this way, every day was an adventure, yeah, yeah, you know, uh, and and. Many days were good days, but there were a number of days that were really hard days as well. Yeah. So, what did counseling your own family through that season look like? Here, you said that you'd counseled other families as a pastor through similar situations, but As you mentioned, it's entirely different when you're going through it yourself.

So what did that counseling look like within the walls of your own home? Yeah, that's a great question, Emily. Yeah, it was just us really thinking together. With open hearts and an open Bible. We knew the passages to go to, but as I said before, they just came with fresh force to us to say, do we really?

Believe what we've been teaching and how we've been discipling our kids to trust the Lord in all things. And so, you know, my wife and I just agreed that we would be as vulnerable with our other kids, and they were really small, but we didn't want to try to pretend that things were better than what they were. We wanted to share with them.

So every time we would go to a doctor's appointment and come back, and you know, Juliet at this point has had over 10 surgeries. You know, we would include the kids and all of that. And it was a real. Faith building process for us to watch just the goodness of the Lord meet us. In our time of weakness, Our family got to experience a greater degree of.

being loved and served by our local church. And I'm not saying that we didn't experience that before, but as a pastor's family. We're typically the ones that are reaching out to other families, you know what I mean? Inviting other families in, taking food to other families and doing things like that. And it was our turn.

To be the recipient of that love and that grace and that care.

So. It was a real growth opportunity for us in our faith to really see the kindness, the goodness. And the mercy of God be sufficient for us. Um, and I think what our kids learned is that what that meant was that not every day would necessarily be a good day, but the Lord would be with us, whether it would be a good day or what we considered a bad day. Yeah, and he sustained us and really taught us a number of lessons, Emily.

Well, when we come back, we're going to talk about what some of those lessons were, and I would love to hear how the Lord. Sustained you and showed you his goodness even on the days that didn't seem good.

So, join us in just a moment on Hope in the Morning. John 13, 35 says, By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. Do you know how to best love and serve your hurting brother or sister in Christ? Listen to Hope in the Morning and be equipped to offer the hope of Jesus to every hurting heart. To learn more or to partner with our ministry, visit us at hopeinthemorning.org.

Yeah. Have you ever struggled to comfort a grieving friend? John 11:35 says, Jesus wept. When Jesus was told by Mary and Martha that their brother Lazarus had died, Jesus wept. Today on Hope in the Morning, we invite you to learn what it looks like to weep with those who weep.

Learn what it means to sit in the ashes and be encouraged that even in our morning, there's hope. His name is Jesus. Visit hope in the morning.org to learn more. Hope in the Mourning allows you to lean into the suffering of others and helps equip you to purposefully mourn with and meaningfully minister to those suffering in your midst. May these testimonies cause you to see our God with fresh and thankful eyes.

and may you seek to be His hands and feet to every wearying heart. Visit hopeinthemorning.org to learn how you can partner with us in ministry. Oh, when I'm free to sin no more, when my feet walk the paths of celestial shores. No longer a need for moon or sun, When all is illumined by the glorious One. What joy when my faith shall be made sight when I no longer weep or will be filled with fright.

when my weary body finds rest, is whole, when my loving father welcomes me home. What wondrous things my eyes shall see Precious stone gates and golden streets Flowing before the throne of I Am is the river of life afforded me by the Lamb. and on the side of this crystal sea is the tree of life, filled with healing leaves. Free from the curse. Face to face with my Lord.

worshipping him purely for evermore. Oh, what a glorious day that shall be, When I call Heaven home for eternity We're talking with Pastor Anthony Kidd today, and all of us face trials in this broken world. We're all living under the curse right now. And so that means that we have broken situations, we have broken bodies. And we're talking with him about his precious daughter, Julia, and just what the Lord has taught him and the joy that he has.

been brought through her life. But a lot of that revolves around really his anchor of joy in Christ.

So, Anthony, thanks again for joining us today. No, thanks again for having me.

So right before we went to break, you were talking about how you had learned some lessons. What were some of those lessons you've learned? Yeah, there are several, and I'll try to narrow it down. One lesson that that that that learned quickly was that i was not in control of as much as i thought i was um i'm an a type personality and uh i'm a i'm a Problem fixer, a problem solver, and there was nothing I can do about this situation. And the Lord really humbled me.

to realize that um I just had to take my hands off of my precious daughter and entrust her into his good hands. And really believe that as much as I loved her, he loved her even more. The other thing was that God can glorify Himself in any and all circumstances. A passage that I wrestled with for some time was John chapter 9. I eventually got to that passage, the man born blind.

And Jesus just said that his blindness wasn't because of his parents' sin or any sin that he sinned, but it was for the glory of God. I think I'd probably preach that passage. I'd preached the gospel of John, but now I was living that out. And how was I supposed to grapple with that reality that my daughter was made the way that she was made by the sovereignty of God for his own glory? And for me.

To embrace that reality, and that reality included and includes still to this day suffering. You know, I would easily change places with her if I could, but God didn't call me. To do that. He called her to do that. And in her suffering, he is magnifying his glory.

And so that really just opened up my understanding of the sovereignty of God and the glory of God and how he can choose broken. Vessels Weak vessels to perfect his power for people to see his glory shine through what society would say is a Useless or broken or imperfect vessel. And God doesn't operate like that.

So that was a wonderful lesson. And then I think the other thing too, I think you just mentioned it even in the poem that, yeah, this world is broken. I think I have a relatively healthy doctrine in theology of the depravity of man and the fallenness of this world. I think, but when it comes home to you personally. It really does stimulate the reality that the Lord has made his people for something else.

That we long for deliverance. From the curse of sin and the brokenness. Of our world because of our sin. And each day, I think as I get older, and particularly as Julie has contributed to that, that I just long to be set free from the limitations and the weaknesses of my own fallen body, obviously her body, and just the brokenness of this world.

So it increases then a longing for heaven and all that God has promised to give us in heaven. And then, one last one, if I can mention this, Emily. Yeah. And it would be, boy, my daughter has taught me, in some respects, more about the love of God. And if I can explain it this way, she just has a.

a certain way of loving that is just palpable. Um, she can just walk into a room when everybody else is down and lighten it up and. and love on people when they don't necessarily love her back. And God has just used her ability to love to teach me more about his love for me. And that's just been invaluable.

So, God has just done a wonderful, wonderful, Teaching through just the limitations and the challenges and the suffering of Julia for me and for my entire family. And they could give you a whole host of other lessons that they've learned as well from Julia. Yeah, you know, I find it so interesting that. In this fallen world, as believers, we often learn so much more about the character of Christ through our suffering than we do in our seasons of complacency, really. You know, it's it's easy to Kind of like what you were mentioning before, like it's easy to share what we know about the Lord with other people that are suffering.

But when you experience it yourself, you see the goodness of the Lord. You see how He sustains us in those moments. And that there's such a comfort in knowing that when our circumstances are changing all the time, and just as you had mentioned with Julia, you didn't know what each day was going to look like. You didn't know if you had a couple weeks or a couple years with her.

So you learn to love all the more how steady our God is and that He never changes. And what, like, what a comfort for our souls when everything around us seems like it's changing and out of our control. When we stop and think about it, there's very little that's in our control. And really, at the end of the day, nothing that's in our control. Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, but when we know the character of God. We can rest. Even when we are going through turbulent storms, we can rest because we know that He is both sovereign and good. And so, as you had mentioned, what the world, what the world deems You know, maybe even what they would say, unfit for life. God does not see that.

You know, God sees Julia as a beautiful A beautiful young woman created in his image for a unique purpose that nobody else could fulfill but her. Have you found that it has impacted the way that you shepherd and pastor other people going through hardships? That's a great question. Yes, and amen. It has certainly.

Made me much more sympathetic. I'm a. Yeah, I think prior to this, I'd like to think that I was a sympathetic shepherd, but. Much of that was probably more so in theory. I was one who would be quick to theologize.

And maybe even a little more like Job's friends than I would like to admit. You know, I would come in with a quick answer. And God just taught me how to just like, you know, we as believers have times in which. You know, our theology is intact, that doctrine, we know it. But we're weak just like other people.

And it's okay not to have all of the answers. It's okay to be in the space where you know that God is good, you know that God is able, you know that God is sufficient, but you're just in a dark space sometimes. And as a shepherd, I'm much more. Knowledgeable of that and able to come alongside of people and give them space and give them time and not have to always try to have all. All of the answers right then and there.

Yeah. But to be able to sympathize with people and let them at their own pace work through what God is doing in their lives.

So, yeah, I'm grateful for that, you know, and I don't want to just make. Julia's suffering about me, but that's been one of the benefits that I have gleaned and have grown in as a result of what God is doing in Julia's life. Yeah, you know, when pastors are willing to be vulnerable about the hardships that they have faced and the fact that. A pastor, a pastor is a man like anybody else. You know, you're going to face hardships, you're going to have the consequences of sin in a fallen world.

But I think that that allows those of us that are shepherded by the pastors to feel like we can open up more vulnerably. And, you know, as you had said, that it gives you more of a heart of compassion and you're able to sympathize. And that's how Jesus is. You know, the scripture tells us that we don't have a high priest who can't sympathize with our weakness, but one that does in every way. And he is so full of compassion.

And, you know, to me, it always brings me back to the fact that he was so compassionate to us that that's why Jesus came and died because he saw all of our suffering. And he didn't just say, Not my problem. You guys caused the fall, you know. He didn't leave us there because he's a redeemer full of compassion and grace. And, you know, that's why the ministry of hope in the morning exists.

That's why the book, Hope in the Morning, exists, is because. It allows us to walk a chapter or an episode in someone else's shoes. And so, Lord willing. We can understand more fully how we can minister to people in those situations in a Christ-like way. You know, yes, we want to have solid theology.

That's important, very important. You know, making sure that we are speaking things that are accurate and true about the Lord. But we also we want to come about it in In a way like Christ did, which is full of gentleness and compassion. And I just think that that is.

So wonderful.

So Anthony, can you tell us we have to wrap up here in a minute, but can you tell us a couple of things that you are most looking forward to when it comes to heaven? Yes. You know, honestly, to be done with the brokenness of this world, no doubt. I mean, one of my favorite verses is in Revelation 21, and where John obviously sees the vision of heaven. And if I can turn to it in the scriptures.

Where there will be no more, and I call these the no mores. Revelation 21, verse 4, and he that is God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will no longer be any death. There will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain. The first things have passed away. And I think that list can just go on and on about no more.

Yes. You know, and those are all the consequences of sin. And so I just look forward to the day when. All of the consequences of sin, the brokenness, the pain, the heartache, the suffering, the afflictions, the trials, the tribulations will be no more. And so that's on one.

And the other side of it, too, is just. To be in the unfiltered presence. Of our Savior and King Jesus Christ and our Father God. He obviously is with us, He is within us. Um but there will be just this great vision of God tabernacling with his people.

Yeah. We with him, he has our God, we as his people, and we will never be separated again. And so I just long to see my Savior face to face and be known as he knows me, that I can know him and know other brothers and sisters in a way that God has created us to be known.

So those are probably the primary things, just to be away from all of this pain and suffering. And as I'm getting older and older, I feel that more acutely and desire that more acutely, but then longing to be with the Lord Jesus Christ face to face, person in person. Yeah. Well, Pastor Anthony, I so appreciate you coming on today. And if you are in a season of suffering, I strongly encourage you to search the scriptures to see what our hope is, who Christ is and who he will always be.

He never changes. He is the same God yesterday, today, and forever. And we do have a sure and steady hope in heaven.

So, if you would like to join us for the remainder of this conversation, you can find us on YouTube at Hope in the Morning Backstage, and we're going to continue talking about heaven and what the Bible says it will be like.

So, join us again at Hope in the Morning. Thank you so much, Anthony. Hope in the Morning is a non-profit ministry that seeks to encourage the hurting, equip those who walk beside them, and evangelize the lost with the hope of Jesus Christ. to partner with our ministry or to make a donation in your loved one's honor. Please visit hopeinthemorning.org.

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