Sometimes a thunderbolt will shoot from a clear blue sky; and sometimes, into the midst of a peaceful family, without warning of a gathering storm above or the slightest tremble of an earthquake beneath, a terrible fact will fall, and from that moment on everything is changed. The air is thick with cloud and cannot weep itself clear. There may come a gorgeous sunset though.” – George McDonald
I got that quote from the beginning of the book “She Said Yes,” the story about the struggles of Misty Bernall and her daughter Cassie.
You might know Cassie as the young lady who, with a gun to her head, said yes” to the question “do you believe in God” at the bloody scene of Columbine. But I must say, after reading this book, her faith wasn’t always so strong. Her mother had to “think, work hard, and expect the best” to get Cassie to where she was at the point of the shooting. Misty thought that her daughter Cassie was drifting away from her, so as any expecting mother would, she went through a couple of Cassie’s letters and to her surprise, found something she never thought she would. Inside her drawer were letters filled with hateful things and plots to kill her family and spells of witchcraft. Most of the letters were to Cassie’s best friend.
Therefore, even though it was a hard and long struggle, Misty worked hard to keep Cassie out of the mess she had gotten herself into. Whether it was sending Cassie to a Christian private school or putting a restraining order on her devious, bad-influential best friend, they kept a good eye on their daughter. For a while, they did not let her do anything except go to church functions, which made it even harder work as I’m sure you can only imagine Cassie’s outbursts and temper tantrums. But like any good mother, Misty expected the best. She constantly told Cassie that she loved her and would always be there for her, no matter how much Cassie screamed and shouted. Misty never stopped expecting the best, and I believe that is what helped Cassie change her life around. Cassie started going to church more frequently and actually enjoying it. Little by little, she started to be happy again.
At one point, Cassie had gone to a retreat with the youth group at a friend’s church. I believe this is the main point at which she realized she wasn’t going anywhere with her life. During praise and worship at the retreat, she started crying and crying out to God. But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t a struggle. For the first time, she had a real desire to change her life around. I’m sure you can only realize how happy her family was to find out about that. In the end, she had completely changed her life around. Due to Cassie’s determination, the act of God, and Misty Thinking Working and expecting the best, at the moment of tragedy in the library with Dylan Klebold, Eric Harris, and the other hundreds of terrified and bloody students, Cassie had the courage and faith to say Yes.” Thank you.
