57 Strong: (A daily devotional inspired by a parent's loss of a child and the Father's absolute faithfulness through it all.) - Clay Sikes

This devotional is a record of sorts of how the Lord has helped us heal after our 18 year old son, Chandler's passing. After the initial shock wore off, I'd get up early every morning and get into the Word of God and without fail, He would give me something to share with others. At first in text messages and later on social media, but it became pretty clear that the Lord was using the transparency of my pain to help heal others. The Bible says that God is close to the broken hearted, so what If the broken took notes on their encounters with Him? Wouldn't that be something worth while, that He could use to heal others with? We'll see. My prayer is that if you're hurting, that this book points you to Jesus... if you're lonely that it points you to Jesus... I think that you get the idea... it's all about Jesus. My name is Clay Sikes and I live with my wife Becky... in 2021 our son Chandler was killed in a car accident, while attending college in Abilene, Texas... since the day of the accident all of our sons friends have adopted us and made us a part of there immediate family. We even have a grandson that has adopted us as his own. He calls me Papa Clay and Becky, Nanny. I guess I'm telling you all this to try and paint a quick picture for you of how the Lord has given us beauty for ashes and how we went from having 1 child to having a crew. I could tell you other things about me, but really my life is wrapped up so tightly in being there for these kids, that it's hard to talk about me. Jesus... now there's Somebody I can talk about.