In a brave and steady voice, he recounted to me how he had watched his little girl suffer.

How it had all begun five years ago — a rushed trip to the hospital in the snow, and how they had almost lost her then.

How hope had soared as the cancer responded to treatment.

How it had given way to fear when the cancer came back, this time not to be denied.

And how, in the end, he is a better man because of it all.

Because, specifically, of his daughter’s example of how to face the worst with bravery and pluck.

His name is Harlan Barnes.

I talked to him this week about his daughter, Unique, for an Our Lives story that will run in Sunday’s Tulsa World.

Unique Barnes, 16, was a junior at Broken Arrow High School, the second oldest of her parents’ five children — four girls, one boy.

She was a popular kid, an excellent student and member of the Pride marching band She was selected to BAHS’ 2013 Homecoming Court.

And she managed to do all of this despite being in pain — she was first diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2009 — more often than not.

In the hospital last week, as things took a final turn for the worse, God spoke to him, Harlan says.

Firmly but gently, He told him that he needed to release Unique.

Harlan resisted at first, questioned it — but by the end, he had found the courage and faith to obey.

Afterward, he said, he was granted a vision of his daughter in Heaven.

She was happy, her broken body whole again. She laughed and joked with him about when he would be joining her.

He talked later about witnessing this vision and says it brought peace to many of those mourning her loss.

Although I don’t know the Barneses personally, my brief exchange with Harlan left me with a sense of peace as well.

Harlan and his family are an example of great faith — faith that the sufferings of this life are not the final word.

I don’t know about you, but that’s an example and a hope I can always use more of.