'Breakthrough' Movie’s Joyce and John Smith Tell Their Tale
Craig: Joyce, this was a situation where suddenly all you believed in was challenged. Yet, on the other hand, people are telling you that you are in denial. Tell me about the struggle between your strong faith and that pressure from people saying you are in denial in the midst of this crisis.
Joyce Smith: I don’t think people understand who have never encountered this – but to be challenged with receiving a telephone call saying that your child is dead, you have a choice of how to respond. I think that because of the Bible study I had been in at the time, I had chosen to believe God. It wasn’t an accident that this Bible study was going on and we were talking about our faith. Do we believe God is who He says He is? Can He do the things He says He can do?
Just before I received the telephone call that John had just been pulled out of the lake with no heartbeat, I had read a devotional sent by a friend. It said, when you are faced with crisis, what is your go-to? Do you believe that God can do the impossible? Is he your first go-to? I believe God was preparing me for what He was about to do.
We adopted John 14 years before that after praying for a child for 17 years. We never knew if this would be on the radar for us. So after receiving that call, I prayed all the way to the hospital, “God, you gave him to us. He was a gift from you. Why would you take him from us?”
