By Mary Faulds, AFA Journal staff writer

July 2009 – Tony and Sarah Henderson are church planters in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Soon after arriving there in 1999, they were blessed with a son, Ryan, and a few years later another, Tyler. In the midst of ministry and a growing family, the Hendersons had no idea the sacrifice the Lord would soon require of their family.

Sarah recalled a moment when she believes her tragedy was foreshadowed. She was leading a Bible study for American ladies in Bolivia in the spring of 2007. 

“One day, we were having a meeting reviewing the lesson for the following week,” she said. “The ladies were sharing their difficulties and their losses – speaking of suffering.  I mentioned that I had never had to suffer like that. One lady turned to me and said, ‘Your time’s coming. You’re young.’ She didn’t say it angrily, she just said it that way.” It was just a short time later when Sarah and her husband would truly understand what it is to suffer. 

Two weeks after the Bible study encounter, Sarah began to feel sick. She was then about 25 weeks pregnant with twins. She was in pain all of that Monday night, so Tony took her to the doctor. He said she was having contractions and admitted her to the hospital in order to stop them. But days later, they still had not stopped, so on that Friday, two boys were born almost four months early: first Ethan Connor, then Brendan Cody.

Because Sarah had to deliver the babies by Caesarean section, she was still recovering from major surgery in ICU Sunday when her husband had to tell her the news that Ethan had died the night before. “We began to cry and pray together. I thought that God had taken one baby to leave the other with us.” Despite intense pain, she was released from the hospital the next week to attend Ethan’s funeral.  

“When we were leaving the hospital,” Sarah said, “we received a call from the doctor attending Brendan.  He informed us that Brendan had gone into cardiac arrest.  We left the hospital not knowing for sure what to expect on our return from the burial.  When we returned, we were told that Brendan too had died.”

On top of the loss of her twins, Sarah continued to have abdominal pain. She soon was having emergency surgery because her intestines had gotten twisted, and she herself was close to death. Her surgery was successful, and Sarah was soon recovering physically.

Tony said, even while Sarah was still in the hospital, God was showing him how the deaths of these babies would be used for His purposes. “I had been at the hospital until really late and got home well after midnight,” he said. “Just after daybreak, a man from our church knocked on our door and woke me up. He had come to pray with me.” 

Tony recalled that this man had lost his own one-and-a-half-year-old daughter seven years prior in a bus accident. Tony said he had gone to to this friend’s house in the months preceeding the loss of his twins. “I noticed this couple had been crying,” he said. “They shared with me their continued sadness for their daughter. I consoled them with Scripture and told them I could never understand what they were going through.”

But now, back in his own home, Tony had fresh eyes of understanding. Just as they finished praying and the first man was leaving, another man was arriving to visit and pray as well. He too had suffered such a loss. In 2004, his eight-year-old son died in a drowning accident. 

“During our loss, I never asked God why!” Sarah said. “I had learned from others that the question to ask is ‘What, Lord?’ I knew God had a purpose.  We want all the glory to go to Him! When you go through the fire, know that full deliverance means no longer smelling like smoke. People are going to know that you’ve been through a trial, but they will see the joy of the Lord reflected in your life.” 

It is that joy that brings the Hendersons a hope and an expectation. The Hendersons now enjoy life with their sons Tyler and Ryan. “When someone asks me how many children I have, I respond with ‘four – two with me and two in heaven,’” Sarah said. “Heaven is much sweeter because we have two sons waiting for us.”    

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