Asking The Right Questions

I've been revisiting a rich book--

mining it's pages reveals 

new nuggets of

truth

hope

encouragement

challenge

"Being Well When We're Ill"

(Wholeness and Hope In Spite of Infirmity)

by Marva J. Dawn

was a book I read as I was 

recovering from the years of depression's darkness

Gratefully I'm not in that place again,

but life is full of so many pathways of pain

and in each one there is the often- asked -question

Why?

I'm in my fifth week now of fairly significant sciatica

Recovery feels so slow...

doesn't it always???

I could rant a list of how this has affected me--

my routine

sleep

abilities, etc.
and just coping with the pain in general

And I could ask that very simple, but nagging question, 

why?

But I haven't.

Not because I'm super spiritual

or strong...

Truly I am very much aware of my brokenness,

how  weak I am

The reason I haven't asked the question

is solely God's grace in my life

He has brought me to a place where I am 

finally

beginning to trust Him...

to believe that the gift of life I receive 

every 

day

is from Him

regardless of how that may look

This is where Marva's words of faith and trust come in.

"A first step toward finding

intellectual, emotional and spiritual well-being

in spite of the absurdity of our...circumstances

is to change the questions from 

'Why?' to

'What?' and 'Where?',

and to ask these with an

open-minded commitment to look for answers.

More completely, the new questions are,

'What is God doing in the midst of this?'

and

'Where do I catch glimpses of the Trinity's grace?'"

Both of these questions move the focus from

me

to

Him

The beauty of theses questions

is that they can be answered!!!

I'm not suspended in time

holding out for some nebulous answer to "why"

which will never come

Instead,

I am living out the answers to these other questions

in the strength and grace and provision

of God

 I can see sooooo much of what God is doing

and catching glimpses of the Trinity's grace

requires little effort

Asking the right questions

changes everything

My prayer--
for strength and grace
to continue living out the answers