Serving God through the good times and bad is what many of us are striving for until those bad times hit and we find how conditional our faith has been, but contemporary Christian artist Aaron Shust has proven to be a man of unshakable faith as he experienced tragedy with his second son and now prepares to welcome his third.

“My hope is in you, Lord all the day long. I won’t be shaken by drought or storm” are lyrics from Shust’s current number one single “My Hope Is In You”. Last year, when his son Nicky became ill, these were words that he found comfort in singing while in the midst of turmoil.

Nicky was diagnosed with the rare disease Eosinophilic Esophagitis. The disease caused Shust’s son’s body to reject food because cells that were in his esophagus had moved into his lungs. This particular case was more severe than doctors had ever seen and there was no cure offered because of the newness of the disease.

Seeing his son suffer was understandably difficult but Shust says he never felt resentment towards God but felt as though God had prepared him for the experience.

“My wife Sarah and I had multiple conversations and one along the lines of, if we ever have children, if God ever blesses us with giving us children, we have to remember that they are not ours. They are His – that we are the care takers.”

“We are to be good stewards of these children that God’s given us and if God chooses to let them live for ninety years or nine minutes, then that’s part of His perfect plan. And I think conversations like that, albeit strange, I think those conversations were prompted by God, by the Spirit so that when Nicky got sick, not that we knew it was coming, but we felt, ‘Wow God, You prepared us for this’.”

Holding on to his faith, Shust was able to see the tragic situation with his son turn into something brighter. After watching Nicky suffer and knowing the prognosis of the doctor, Nicky was taken in for further testing and doctors were astonished by what they found.

Doctors examined Nicky and found no trace of the disease in his body.

Not feeling bitter or resentful about the situation, Shust feels that there is purpose in every tragedy.

“When we live in constant cruise control and we’re just coasting, its very easy to forget about the grace that God has given us, the grace that God has given us in the forgiveness of our sins, the grace that God has given us for an abundant life, for an eternal life...”

“When things go so smoothly, we forget that. We think that we’re in control. I think tragedy is used to remind us that God is in control. He’s not sadistic. He’s not out to hurt us. He’s out to grow us. In the same way that a loving father disciplines His children, its not to hurt. Its to help, its to grow, its to develop and mature...”

With the success of his newest album This Is What We Believe and health of his family, Shust has much to be thankful for and has excitedly shared the news of his third son.

Sharing pictures of his first two sons via social media, Shust surprised his fans by slipping in an announcement and photo of his third son’s sonogram.

Shust’s statement of faith and encouragement to other believers This Is What We Believe is now available on iTunes and Amazon.