My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? (Psalm 22:1)

Adam and Corrie Hull were given Brooklyn, an amazing little girl.

For 118 days.

She was born with a rare disease — a third 18th chromosome in every cell of her body that wouldn’t allow for a long life on this earth. That is how God knit her together (Psalm 139:13).

Her short life provoked agonizing questions in her parents about God, life, and suffering, and she gave them a deeper sense of eternity’s realness.

Disability, disease, and death do that for us. Our Satanic enemy, our society, and our own sin try to keep us in a fog of unreality, one that would lead us to waste our lives and be separated from Jesus.

Brooklyn’s life and her parents’ story blow that fog away.

It is hard. Painful. And yet Adam and Corrie live in hope. “Celebration and joy can still exist in the face of something dire and terrible.”

The Austin Stone Story Team is a community of artists who use creative storytelling to glorify the name and purpose of Jesus Christ, encourage the saints, and compel all people to gospel action. Follow more stories at storyteam.org, and visit the Hull family’s blog at HullFamilyStory.com.

More on God’s goodness in suffering:

• A Song for the Suffering (video with Shane & Shane)

• When God Does the Miracle We Didn’t Ask For (post by Vaneetha Rendall Demski)

• Preparing to Know Christ Deeply Through Suffering (message from John Piper)