"I was crushed,” Sherri Burgess said.
“I was crushed and I cried out to God for answers. When the Bible tells us that God is near to the brokenhearted, that is real.”
When Burgess and her husband, Rick, lost their youngest son, Bronner, in a tragic drowning Jan. 19, 2008, she started down a path that led her to understand God in a way she never had before.
“There was a time early on in this journey to understand God’s purpose … that I was desperately crying out for Him to tell me, ‘Why the children?’ And I said to God, ‘There is nothing worse than losing a child. I know You lost Your Son, but You got Him back after three days.’ And I heard God say to my spirit, ‘What about all of Mine? You’re going to get this glorious reunion with your child, but I’m not going to get that with all of Mine.’ On that day I believe it was the first time I ever had compassion for God and I felt that my broken heart must pale in comparison to His.
“God wanted to use my son and our family to bring some of His lost children back to Him. … If He wants to use me to bring those lost people to Him, then I can submit to that because I know that my pain is temporary.”
Chains have been broken
Burgess said “Bronner” was never intended to be a book on grief — it’s a book on a God who loves us even when it doesn’t seem like He does.
“Before [Bronner went to heaven] I felt blessed and protected by God. But this kind of calamity — it shakes you to the core. And I had to work it all out with God and struggle like Jacob did for answers, and He gave them to me time and time again.
“I told God, ‘We were so happy.’ And God said, ‘But I want you to be holy.’ Ever since then my life has taken on a different trajectory so that I’m not pursuing happiness so much as I’m pursuing God,” she said.
Having an eternal perspective is a lifestyle that Burgess wants others to experience, she said.
“It is so freeing because those chains to the world have been broken and my heart is so wrapped up in the things of God and heaven and His Spirit. Now I’m free to walk in the way that God has called me to walk. I don’t live for the world anymore.
“I believe that God is behind all of this and He had a great plan and purpose and it was good,” Burgess said. “This was the reason I was born. … I was born to have Bronner and Bronner was always going to be taken.”
And that, she said, is what drives her, both now and during the five-year process of writing the book.
“I’ve never felt that God was giving me these answers just for me. It was always meant to be shared. … For us to see the purpose behind [Bronner’s death] is healing and it’s good.”
And she desperately wants to share that healing with others. Through speaking engagements and the book, Burgess wants to help people understand the “why” of tragedies. Rick Burgess also speaks at events in addition to his role as radio talk show host of the nationally syndicated “The Rick and Bubba Show.” The couple and their family are longtime members of Shades Mountain Baptist Church, Vestavia Hills, where Sherri Burgess is one of the leaders in the 12th grade Sunday School department.
Through this journey Sherri Burgess has one hope for “Bronner” — “that people will be truly changed and trust and love the Lord more because of it.”
“Bronner” will be released Jan. 19, the eight-year anniversary of the little boy’s heaven-going.
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