Life’s darkest journeys can lead a path to Christ’s light, keynote speaker tells women

Faith calls on us to use unexpected challenges in our lives for the glory of God, Kathy Ferguson Litton told attendees at the 2019 Dressed for Service Style Show and Women’s Auxiliary Garden Party, April 11. Litton, who lives in Mobile, Ala., and serves with the North American Mission Board, was the event’s keynote speaker.

Before Litton spoke, Adam W. Greenway, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, welcomed the group, praising the indispensable role of women in the seminary’s history. “We can’t tell the story of Southwestern Seminary apart from the women who helped make our seminary possible,” he said. “These women of Southwestern are not confined to a single program but are integrated into every aspect of our programming.”

In its history, the Dressed for Service ministry has reached out to more than 1,000 women. Dressed for Service provides selected women—wives of graduating students and graduating female students—an outfit appropriate for search committee interviews, graduations, and church services. Chosen participants benefit from relationships built with their Women’s Auxiliary shopping mentors. This year, 37 women were chosen to participate.

During the luncheon, Dean of Women’s Programs Terri Stovall thanked donors for their contributions to the program, and for their support that assists Southwestern Seminary graduates in ministries worldwide.

For her keynote address, Litton, whose husband died in a car accident in 2002, related how God’s love guided her from a dark place to spiritual enlightenment. Unforeseen challenges bring suffering, but out of that dark place comes the opportunity to better know God, she said.

God’s power is achieved when we battle our frailties, Litton said. “Paul asked for the thorn to be removed from his flesh, but God reminded him that His power was perfected in Paul’s weakness. The grace of God empowers us to do something that we don’t have the strength to do on our own.”

“God gave me unexpected strength,” Litton said—faith for the future and the power to move forward.

Litton recalled that in the days after her husband’s death, “I didn’t lose faith in God, but I didn’t want to trust Him again, either.” For a time, she believed that only earthly life, not God, could make her happy. She vowed to be faithful to God in spirit, “but I told God, ‘But I’m not going to give you my heart again.’ And God said, ‘Oh, no, I want your heart.’” When she learned to fully love God again, “I experienced unexpected intimacy,” she said.

Although the trajectory of life may seem to veer in unexpected ways, “God knows what our life is going to look like. You get to choose if you want to cooperate with this trajectory.” Litton learned that navigating a dark path gave her understanding of others on a similar dark path, and the opportunity to comfort and support them.

“What are you doing with your trajectory of pain?” she asked. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to waste what God has planned for me.”