Irrevocable

A Story of Human Aphasia and Divine Grace

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The ability to express and understand written and spoken language is impaired in individuals who are experiencing aphasia. The disorder is considered common, with over 200,000 new cases diagnosed each year.

Pam Espy experienced aphasia following a stroke when she was 53 years old. Doctors and therapists did all they could for Pam, but she lost activities, relationships, and confidence as she struggled to communicate. Pam’s husband John held tightly to his firm belief that God still had a plan and a call on Pam’s life. In the New International Version of the Bible, Romans 11:29 says, “God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.”

Clinging to this promise from Scripture, John believed that Pam was not diminished; she was merely broken—just as he was also broken, just as we all are also broken. It is in that brokenness that God’s love and mercy can be seen, as it shines through our broken places when we invite him into our brokenness.

This is the story of how John and Pam learned to embrace their brokenness together and invite God to shine in the midst of it, making it more beautiful than they could have imagined.

 

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Author Bio

John M. Espy is an instructional writer. Over the course of his life, he has been gone by many interesting titles: Foreign Devil (as a missionary kid in Hong Kong), an Arch Ass (as an archives assistant in a library), and the Runaway Trainer (as an instructional writer). These days, his wife refers to him as her Helper Monkey and “Desiccated” Driver. John lives with his wife, Pam, in Lawrence, Kansas, and blogs at Bible Weigh Station.