Many people are quarantined to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. For most, this hasn’t been more than a few weeks, but for Bethel Music worship leader Kalley Heiligenthal it’s been over three months. She has been in self-quarantine since the death of her daughter Olive—because Jesus asked her to.
Heiligenthal explained on her Instagram that God gave her this time of isolation as a space to heal. “I’d resisted it, downplayed it, overplayed it and then gave into it. I’d rather have stayed up and moving, looking triumphant and unfazed, but I had broken bones and He’s too good to let me move around like normal on them. He was clear they weren’t broken from defeat—there’s no defeat here. But pain? Yes. Loss in this lifetime? Yes.”
You may remember back in December when Kalley and Andrew’s 2-year-old suddenly stopped breathing. A global movement of prayer erupted in response to the Heiligenthals’ request to contend for Olive’s resurrection. “We are asking for bold, unified prayers from the global church to stand with us in belief that He will raise this little girl back to life,” she wrote in an Instagram post that went viral.
Although many critical voices questioned the approach of Bethel Church and the Heiligenthal family, testimonies of the impact of their faith also flooded in. The story and accompanying videos of the grieving parents worshipping God whole-heartedly spread across the world. Although their prayers did not get answered as they had hoped, the Heiligenthals and their church community never stopped boldly declaring God’s goodness, even in their heartache.
Read more at How God Is Healing This Bethel Worship Leader After Her 2-Year-Old Daughter Died.
