FIVE YEAR OLD MARIA CHAPMAN TRAGICALLY KILLED...please pray for Steven and his entire family

"there is no pit so deep
where God's love is not deeper still"
-Elizabeth ten Boom-I received the heart-wrenching news a few hours ago this evening [Wednesday,  March 21] of the unfortunate and tragic death of Steven's youngest child, adopted daughter Maria.

I had just seen Steven a few days ago at a local coffee shop not far from our respective homes. Oh how our lives can be so unexpectedly and radically changed in just an instant. Please pray, beloved, for this dear family that the Lord would comfort them and grant them the grace needed to endure in this time of great loss.

For those of you who have lost loved ones as I have, it is in these shattering moments, and by the tender mercy of God through the Holy Spirit, that we press into our Lord Jesus and find our strength and refuge beyond the scalding tears and questioning hearts. And as a step of faith, as Christians, we say with heavenly understood sorrow from the depth of our aching being in the midnight hour: "the Lord gives and the Lord takes away; but blessed be the name of the Lord."  And then one day, as we continue to walk down the Narrow Road by His grace, Jesus will meet us; and turns our broken hearts into burning hearts.  And right there in the black hole of our suffering and grief we will sing again, if only in a holy whisper, It Is Well With My Soul.
But not yet, not yet...
"Dear Lord Jesus, please grant my brother in Christ and his entire family the grace and mercy they so deeply need this very hour."

In His Unfailing Love,
Steve
1 Cor. 15:1-4

The details of this accident follow below:
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The 5-year-old daughter of contemporary Christian music star Steven Curtis Chapman was struck and killed Wednesday by a sport utility vehicle driven by her brother, authorities said.
The girl, Maria, was hit in a driveway on the family residence Wednesday afternoon by a Toyota Land Cruiser driven by her teenage brother, said Laura McPherson, a spokesman for the Tennessee Highway Patrol.McPherson said no charges are expected."It looks like a tragic accident," she said.She said several members of the Chapman family witnessed the accident, which happened in Williamson County just south of Nashville.The brother apparently did not see the little girl, McPherson said. She did not have the name or exact age of the brother, only that he is an older teenager.The girl died later at Vanderbilt Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Laurie Holloway said.Chapman, originally from Paducah, Ky., and his wife have promoted international adoption and have three daughters from China, including Maria.Chapman has won five Grammy awards and 51 Dove awards from the Gospel Music Association.The singer's Web site said that Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth, were persuaded by their oldest daughter to adopt a girl from China. The experience led the family to adopt two more children and create Shaohannah's Hope, a foundation and ministry to financially assist thousands of couples in adoption.The Chapmans did missionary work at Chinese orphanages in 2006 and 2007, according to the Web site.

"After our first trip to China, my wife and I knew our lives were changing - our eyes and hearts were opening to how big God really is, and we have wanted to experience more of that," Chapman says on the Web site. "We've really wondered whether or not we should just go to China and stay there. But I don't think so. I believe God is saying, 'I want you to go, get your heart broken, your eyes opened, and then take this story back to the church in America and around the world."'

Chapman also has released a book about being a father entitled "Cinderella: The Love of Daddy and his Princess."