Lena McArthur: Only God can use the tragedies of our lives for good

Published 8:28 am Saturday, September 10, 2022

She told her story at the “Empowering Women” luncheon held last month titled, Tattered-2-Mended.

“My dad died when I was 13,” she said. “My mother had some medical and probably mental issues. After he passed away, things got worse at home.”

That was her first experience with abuse, and it drove her from home at the age of 15 to live where she could find a place, usually with friends. When she married, it was to a man who looked great on the outside, but it wasn’t long until she realized he was rotten on the inside.

“I remember having to run into the woods with my daughters to hide from him,” she said.

“I had faith, but nothing like now. It was in the 90s that I fell passionately in love with the Lord.”

After she left her abusive marriage, she wrapped her hands around her Bible and said, “Lord, you are my husband.”

The Bible contains several references to this relationship, including Isaiah 54:5 (ESV), For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name….

“He’ll never leave you or forsake you,” she said. “I don’t want to step out from His covering. He’s my strength.”

One of her daughters had a baby at 14. Lena stepped in to raise it, not knowing that down the road, she would be responsible for all three of her grandchildren.

When she received a call explaining that  her ex-husband’s sister-in-law had died in her sleep as a result of cancer, she asked about arrangements and was surprised the body was already cremated, and there would be no service.

Not long thereafter, her daughter said she thought she should go and help her father who was healing from an accident and living with his brother who had lost his wife. Her daughter had not been staying with her father and uncle long when McArthur got a call from her ex. He found Angela, their daughter, dead and hung up without further explanation.

“I got there as quickly as I could. She was still in the bed, and it hit me,” Lena said.

She asked if the bed was the same where Pat had died. It was.

“I knew it was no accident. There was just something in my spirit that nudged me and I knew my ex’s brother had poisoned his wife and Angela,” McArthur said.

Those thoughts were soon confirmed.

“I was home making plans for Angela’s funeral when my ex-husband called to tell me that he had found his girlfriend dead,” she said. “His brother killed himself soon thereafter. There was never an investigation.”

McArthur grieved the loss of her daughter, but she didn’t dwell in that dark place forever. Nor did she embrace bitterness or unforgiveness.

“I didn’t even know I was broken, but I realized I was broken and that I was broken for a reason, and from that point on I would pour myself into broken people,” she said. “When I started my job at the chamber, I knew God put me here. It doesn’t matter how much money we have, what kind of house we live in. We are His people, and He is connecting us, moving us to where we need to be.”

She is passionate about being about the Lord’s business. She is passionate about her role in connecting business owners, customers and the community, and she’s passionate about sharing her story to empower women and share the message of healing and hope. God’s way of connecting the right people at the right time led to a yearly get together for empowering women in 2015.  As many as 300 have attended. Some fly in. The focus is simple.

“We just feed them and love on them and see where that takes us,” she said.

Women like McArthur tell their stories.

“I’m so humbled that God took me, somebody with nothing, somebody broken and used me. Only He can use the tragedies of our lives for good.”