Wrestling with Why - Mindy Ferguson

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts; neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55 NIV

After a careless walk through a freshly mowed field, my daughter came running into the house, wildly brushing at her ankles. With wrinkled brow, she looked at me and asked in a loud voice, “Why did God Create ants?!” Grabbing the calamine lotion from the bathroom medicine cabinet, I responded, “I have no idea. Let’s ask Him when we see Him!”

Have you ever asked God why? “Why does He allow His servants to suffer?” “Why do cheaters often appear to win?” I must admit, the more answers I stumble upon in my journey of faith, the less I fully understand. God uses the unqualified and exalts the meek. Sometimes He cures a loved one of a life-threatening illness, other times He chooses to heal by ushering one to Heaven.

In wrestling through the whys in my life, I’ve often thought I might do things differently if I were God. I’d probably choose the strongest and most influential folks to carry out my work. Certainly I’d only select leaders with unwavering faith and steadfast obedience. Criminals would always suffer and the righteous would always prosper.

But, truth be known, if God operated according to my set of standards, the woman in my mirror would never qualify to work for the Kingdom of God. She is often weak. At times, she struggles desperately to walk faithfully with God. And, sadly, she frequently fails to display the righteous behavior God deserves from His “servants.”

Yes, I might have created a world without annoying ants, creepy cockroaches (there’s a why!), or the nuisance of bees, but in my attempt to avoid discomfort, I would have produced a planet void of amusing creatures like anteaters, the beauty of flowers, or the sweetness of honey.

In Isaiah we read, For my thoughts are not your thoughts; neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

I do not always understand the ways of God. But I marvel at the beauty He frequently generates from the ashes of tragedy. I am often amazed as He graciously chooses mercy when others might opt for wrath. And I am gratefully in awe of His ability to transform the rebellious and restore the broken.

I have asked my Lord why on more than one occasion. But the question with which I most often struggle? Why would He send His Son to die so that He could have a relationship with someone as flawed as me?

Yes, I question. But I am eternally grateful that God’s ways are far higher than mine. (I guess I can put up with ants.)

-Copyright 2009 © Fruitful Word Ministries, Inc., All Rights Reserved.



Mindy founded Fruitful Word Ministries in 2003. She is an author of women’s Bible studies and speaks nationally at women's conferences and events. Her writings have appeared in the P31 Woman magazine, Just Between Us magazine, Chicken Soup for the Mother of Preschooler's Soul, and the One Year Life Verse Devotional. Mindy is the author of Walking with God: From Slavery to Freedom; Living the Promised Life (Hensley), an in-depth Bible study for women and the Hugs Bible Reflections for Women (Howard Books), scheduled to be in bookstores in August 2009. Mindy lives in a suburb of Houston, Texas with her husband of twenty-two years and their daughter. Their son is currently attending college in Bryan, Texas.

Giving Thanks -- Ariel Allison

“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18

I sat next to a dying man on Thanksgiving evening five years ago. He was present mentally, his mind sharp. But his body was barely alive – his heart struggling to beat against an over-sized tumor. In that moment the fringe between Heaven and Earth was transparent. It was a holy moment as I watched a man hover on the edge of eternity. That man was my father.

Such moments in life are rare. It is the only time I’ve ever spoken with one so close to the presence of God. It is no coincidence that it all happened on a day that we are called to give thanks. And I feared it at first. I knew his time had come and I did not want this day to be marked by such sad memories forever. But I learned in those hours, huddled near his shrunken form, that the hardest moments in life are often the ones that call us into worship.

He made a request in the midst of his final goodbyes that forever changed the way I view Thanksgiving. He asked us to sing his favorite worship song. With quivering voices we lifted the words heavenward, eyes closed, smiling at the image of my father in his younger days stomping and clapping his hands to music:

Some bright morning when this life is over
I'll fly away
To that home on God's celestial shore
I'll fly away
I'll fly away oh glory I'll fly away (in the morning)
When I die hallelujah by and by I'll fly away

By dawn the next morning my father had flown away. And now, each year I stop and give thanks to the God who gives and takes away. I give thanks to the God who calls me to walk through heartbreaking moments. I give thanks every year on Thanksgiving that God gave me a father who I often struggled to love. And I give thanks that one day I will see him again and we will pick up right where we left off, in worship to the God who is worthy of thanking – for all the good and the bad we endure.



Ariel Allison writes, reads, and lives in a small Texas town with her husband and three young sons. She is the co-author of Daddy Do You Love Me: a Daughter’s Journey of Faith and Restoration (New Leaf Press, 2006). Her days are filled with toothless grins, muddy hands, and a never ending stream of words that try to find their way to her laptop. She ponders life as a mother of all boys at www.themoabclub.blogspot.com and her thoughts as a redeemed dreamer at www.arielallison.blogspot.com. She and her husband are expecting their fourth son in December.