Mar 12, 2019
When you hear Ashley Davidson
tell the story of how she first met her husband Matt, you’re
reminded of those stories that are almost too good to be true. Matt
was a counselor at White Mills, a camp where Ashley’s little
brother attended one summer. He wouldn’t stop talking about Matt,
and suggested that Ashley should go out with him. Later, when Matt
baptized her brother, she met him, and even though they went on a
few dates, they ended up going their own separate ways. Fast
forward a little bit. Ashley’s praying to God on the heels of a
relationship that didn’t work out. All she wanted was to be a wife
and mother, and as she took her concerns to God in prayer, the Holy
Spirit came to her and told Ashley that she would marry Matt
Davidson…whom she hadn’t talked to in months.
Ashley was so convinced by this that she reached out to Matt,
and though he was seeing someone else, she persisted. Soon, they
began dating again and were married a year later. It was the kind
of love story Christians pray for, where prayers are spoken to God,
who answers with the perfect spouse—but it’s a story without a
fairy tale ending. Matt Davidson passed away in 2012, leaving
behind Ashley and their three children.
I wish you could have known Matt. He was one of the most
joyful, loving people on the planet. He loved Jesus and loved
people as genuinely as any pastor I’ve ever known. When Matt died,
we felt his absence, but Matt’s legacy lives on. When someone who
is young and healthy and making a difference in the world dies
unexpectedly, it’s hard to make sense out of it. Even if God
doesn’t cause such a tragedy, it’s hard to understand how he’d
allow it. In this episode, we'll wrestle with the question, “How
can anything good come out of this?”