The casket Deborah Roquiz saw before her was tiny, perhaps a little over than 2-feet in length. Next to it sat a man on a couch, whose eyes stared unwaveringly at the television in front of him. The scene was strange and not what Deborah expected to find though she knew that the black flag with a small white cross in the center that hung from the window meant someone in the home had died. But a baby? How could that be? “May I play a song on my violin for you?” she asked the man. He shrugged, with his eyes still focused ahead of him. She pulled out her violin and began to play a medley. “The Sweet By and By”, “Beyond the Sunset”, and when she began to transition in a song named “Meditation” something inside of her began to tear. She drew out the vibrations with her reed and it was as if God himself was looking upon the scene through her eyes, feeling emotion through her soul. She was overcome by the grief of God. Tears began to pour from her eyes and from the eyes of the father who finally looked away from the television and into his own grief.  The death of this young life, which lived far from the United States and belonged to parents Deborah didn’t know, could have seemed insignificant.  But in that moment she learned that this life meant something to God. The violin’s last tone hung in the air and Martin Corona, a Bible worker, prayed for the family of the lost child.

            “One condolence we have is that God grieves with us,” says Deborah. “He suffers with us in our pain.”

Story By  Deborah Roquiz

Andrew Vizcarra