Hello, my friends. It has been many months since I uploaded a blog post. I’ve been writing every week, but concentrating on other platforms. This week starts the reboot of the blog. At the end of the post, I’ll share some other ways you can receive the encouraging content I’m trying to deliver.
“We’ve stopped asking ‘why’ and started asking ‘what for.’”
I don’t know how many times I’ve told this story over the last 15-plus years, but that number is high.
I think it was the summer of 2004. Our church was part of a group that was on a mission trip to Saltillo, Mexico. It was a special trip for our family—the only one that all four of us went on together.
Our group was working in a church that week helping with Vacation Bible School in the mornings, some painting, and community outreach in the evenings.
The pastor’s wife was absolutely amazing and inspiring. Each morning, she taught Bible stories to boys and girls and then helped prepare our lunch. Each afternoon, she and her husband drove to Monterrey and back (about 100 miles round trip) for her to undergo chemotherapy treatments for cancer. She rested in the evenings and did not join us for the community outreach, but she was ready to go the next morning.
Every day.
On the last day, the pastor and I took a walk to buy some tortillas. We talked about the challenges of his wife’s illness and the reality that so many pastors and their families face—that few people consider it important to minister to the “ministers.”
As we walked and talked, he made the profound statement that I quoted at the beginning of this post.
Instead of “why” they were asking “what for.”
Now, in my redneck of the woods, those mean the same thing. “What did you do that for?”
What he meant was that it was more important to consider how God is going to use this in our lives tomorrow than trying to figure out why it happened today.
In 1993, Scott Wesley Brown wrote a song entitled, “When Answers Aren’t Enough.”
The second stanza says, “Instead of asking why did it happen, think of where it can lead you from here. And as your pain is slowly easing, you can find a greater reason to live your life triumphant through the tears.”
I woke up with that song on my mind this morning. I hadn’t thought about it in years, but it probably was somehow sparked by the book I started reading in bed last night.
My friend Beverly Ross has just released a book she co-wrote with her son describing their experience through the valley of grief when Beverly’s daughter Jenny died suddenly in 2010. “Scarred Hope: A Mother and Son Learn To Carry Grief and Live With Joy” can be found on Amazon.
I haven’t read enough of the book yet to share any lessons, but I can share this from my own experiences and observations of grief: “What for” is not about discovering reasons (we may never get that); it’s about leaning into dependence on God for purposeful living.
It’s about being carried by God (Scott Wesley Brown wrote a song about that, too) until you are able to carry your grief and live with joy in a way that demonstrates that God is real in your life.
Titus 2:8 says, “Your message is to be sound beyond reproach, so that any opponent will be ashamed because he doesn’t have anything bad to say about us.”
The message of our lives speaks much more powerfully than our words. How we live shows how we trust God’s amazing grace.
The message of our lives speaks much more powerfully than our words. How we live shows how we trust God’s amazing grace. Share on XBy the way, Pastor Eduardo Magaña Vázquez, died on September 2 from Covid. Please join me in praying for his wife (yes, she’s a cancer survivor) and their three grown children as they lean into God for their next “what for.”
Be amazing today, my friend.
Encouraging Content to help you discover your Amazing
Encouragement delivered directly to your Email Inbox
Weekly – Join my Be Amazing Circle to get the Be Amazing letter delivered to your email inbox each Monday. It includes the BE AMAZING post (blog, newspaper column) and a practical Pursuing Amazingness action step that is only included for email subscribers.
Daily (almost) – Join Dr. G’s Daily Cup of Encouragement to get Dr. G’s Daily Cuppa delivered to your email inbox each Tuesday – Friday (most of the time …). A short devotional that I compose each morning. No politics. No whining. Just encouragement for the day to live your Amazing.
YouTube Videos
Subscribe to my YouTube Channel to get access to the 3 Video Series (so far) that I’m producing.
Weekly – Be Amazing Video: A short, practical video to inspire, encourage, and–sometimes–entertain you on your journey to Amazing.
Daily (almost) – Dr. G’s Daily Cup of Encouragement Video: The video version of the written devotional for those who would rather watch and listen than read.
Occasionally (that’s my best description at the moment) – Amazing Churches Video: A short and encouraging topical message to help churches and their leaders think about what it means to be amazing in their communities.
