Alice was dying from Lou Gehrig’s disease. During the last stages of her illness, letters arrived daily to comfort and encourage her. Were these notes from the Hemlock Society, urging Alice to claim her right to die with dignity and call someone in to assist her in suicide? Were these messages from the Stoic, coaching Alice to keep a stiff upper lip, to suck in her gut, and to draw from her inner resources in order calmly to resign herself to her fate? Or were these daily words to the dying Alice from God the heavenly Father Himself, reminding Alice of His sovereignty, goodness, and love—even in suffering and death—and teaching Alice to rest, by faith, in His will and in the sufficiency of His grace?
The attitude of the Christian toward suffering, based on a theology that recognizes the sovereignty of God in all trials, is well defined in the foreword by Professor Herman Hanko. For comfort in suffering and for an example of how to be a godly comforter to others in their suffering, read Good Morning, Alice.
REVIEW
“Good Morning Alice,” by Gise J. VanBaren. Grand Rapids: Reformed Free Publishing Association, 1994. 157 pp. (paperback). [Reviewed by Prof. Robert D. Decker.]
We quote from the jacket of the book: “Alice (the author’s sister, RDD) was dying from Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, RDD). During the last stages of her illness, notes from an anonymous friend arrived daily to comfort and encourage Alice. Each note reflected on a Scripture passage. These reflections helped Alice come to terms with her suffering and brought her to acknowledge the sovereignty of God in His way for her.
“The author skilfully weaves these letters into his account of and commentary on Alice’s illness and death. In these pages the reader also can find comfort and strength to endure the sufferings, discouragements, and tragedies which come to each child of God and can find the joy and peace of trusting God in all His works and ways.”
God’s children who struggle with terminal illness, or those who have loved ones struggling with serious or terminal illness, will want to read this moving account. Any believer who wrestles with the question of how a good God can cause His beloved saints to suffer will benefit from the book and from the preface which was written by Prof. Herman Hanko.
Gise J. Van Baren was a minister in the Protestant Reformed Churches in America until his death.
The RFPA is to be commended for making this moving story available to the reading public.
