asking the right question

In our Sunday School lesson this week, we reflected on the storm, shipwreck, and snakebite that the Apostle Paul endured in Acts 27 and 28. I observed that we often ask the wrong question when we find ourselves in the midst of trials. While we are inclined to ask, "Why is this happening?" a better question to consider is "Where is God working in this situation?" 

Today I had the privilege of reprising the Nashville to Birmingham commute that I made twice weekly for four years while I was a student at Beeson Divinity School. I drove to Birmingham this morning so that I could attend a gathering of Beeson alumnae in the home of one of my seminary sisters, and - just like the Early Church - we ate, worshipped, prayed, and fellowshipped together in an intimate setting. As we sang together, I thought about the lesson I had taught on Sunday and the trials that I had faced during my seminary career - the most significant of which was the sudden death of my sister at the age of 34. When you are grieving, it is particularly difficult to gather your wits and look for God's hand, but I sensed even in the earliest hours of that tragedy that God was indeed at work. Today with seven years of perspective, I can see even more clearly all the ways that God was working in the midst of that loss. In fact, God used that experience to propel me to mentor the very group of teenage girls who I taught in Sunday School this week. 

Where is God working in this situation? On the Friday in April when my mother was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer, I asked that question. In the intervening months, I have seen God's hand in countless ways. Tomorrow my mother will have a scan to see if the chemotherapy is doing its job. No matter what we learn this week, I have no doubt that God is at work. One of my girls reminded us in Sunday School of Jesus' words from John 13:7 - "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." I have faith that one day I will understand.