I didn’t really want a faith boost. I’m greedy when it comes to information. I wanted a reason for what had happened. I wanted to know the purpose.

I Don’t Want to Hear it’s a Mystery. I Want to Know Why.

I mean, I am sure that a Being who has the knowledge, wisdom and forethought to “big bang” universes into existence has a plan. It goes without saying that such a plan must be involved, inclusive and complex enough that a mortal like me can’t comprehend it. Still, I don’t feel comfortable with not getting answers to the simple questions that we humans would like to ask. Sometimes we do ask and we are told by those whom we assume to know God better than we do, that it’s a part of God’s plan that we just can’t understand. Often, that is the answer we need to accept. But sometimes, the Grand Creator shows His “Papa” side a little more openly and he shares a bit more of that plan, a part that we CAN understand. I just love it when that “Daddy” side shows through. It’s always a faith boost, to me.

I just couldn’t quite bring myself to write or respond until I got my thoughts together, because what I really needed was a faith boost.

You may have noticed that I have been very behind in responding to emails, messages and comments to the blog and Facebook page over the past few days. If you are one of those friends (and yes, if you made a comment, or communicated in any way, you are my friend), I apologize. Last Thursday morning I received notification that some of our family’s dearest friends, from another state had lost their thirty-six year-old son. He left behind many friends and family members including a wife and little boy. By Thursday afternoon I was on a plane. It wasn’t that I was too busy over those several days, or that I didn’t have access to the internet. I just couldn’t quite bring myself to write or respond until I got my thoughts together, because what I really needed was a faith boost.

My friends needed a faith boost to hold themselves up. Who wouldn’t in such circumstances?

So often, the details of such a death are obscured. But my dear friends had decided that people needed to know so that they could help others. A grieving mother with a broken heart shared the information perfectly, leaving no doubt as to the cause of the tragedy, but not dwelling on the painful and shocking subject. If I write for a thousand years, I will never be able to equal her delivery, so I will plagiarize. “Depression is a terrible sickness, you hear about all the time ….but until it steps into your life/family you don’t know the pain it causes for your loved ones! I pray that no one should have to go through/feel something so terrible!!” Over the weekend, that mother calmly shared her feelings of anger, comparing her situation to one of dire circumstances seven years earlier; a situation also involving depression, but where fortunately, no life was lost. My friends needed a faith boost to hold themselves up. Who wouldn’t in such circumstances?

On Monday morning, I listened to an inspired and talented pastor bring a needed faith boost to the friends and family while delivering a message of God’s love and assurance of eternal happiness.

Of course the community and neighbors had stepped in as is usually the case, but it happened in abundance. My friends live in wonderful place in rural Michigan; a place that my wife has often referred to as a town of “Quiet Country Neighbors.” People didn’t just ask what they could do to help. They did. On Monday morning, I listened to an inspired and talented pastor bring a needed faith boost to the friends and family while delivering a message of God’s love and assurance of eternal happiness. The man with the mantle could not have handled the delicate situation better in addressing parents and other family members who have been assigned by God to deal with some of the most devastating manifestations of depression again and again. They got exactly what they needed and what I’m sure that God wanted them to hear.

I don’t know why God tolerates me and gives me a faith boost when so many are so much more worthy. Maybe it’s just what the pastor was talking about with eternal love.

You know me, though. I’m greedy when it comes to information. I wanted a reason for what had happened. I wanted to know the purpose. The pastor’s message of us not being able to understand God’s wisdom or purposes left me feeling empty. Nothing in my life has affected me more severely than the death of loved ones. As I crossed the quiet country road from the church to the Lutheran School gymnasium for a luncheon, my mind was reaching out in my own weak-faith way, petitioning God for more information; more understanding. I couldn’t equate the tragic events with love, only pain. I don’t know why God tolerates me and gives me a faith boost when so many are so much more worthy. Maybe it’s just what the pastor was talking about with eternal love.

Then I understood that there will be times of tragedy for others, when my friends are able to hold them up and give them a faith boost.

But as I crossed the street I could imagine my friends in the future. I knew that they would seek out other families that struggle with depression. I realized that their first-person perspective would help parents or spouses to recognize the signs in their own families and move them to get help. I knew that they would be able to help those who are depressed to understand how much their families really do care. And then I understood that there will be times of tragedy for others, when my friends are able to hold them up and give them a faith boost. Because they have “been there,” their words will ring true as they explain that they really do understand. Their help will be accepted and their counsel on how to heal will be followed. Nothing helps those who are desperate more than someone else who has walked through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, who can give them a map and method on how to pass through and arrive safely on the other side.

They will share in the goodness that comes from their actions as they move to use their own experiences to make other’s lives better and to give a faith boost when it’s most needed.

For me, that’s what brought the “message of love” from such a tragedy. Because of the pain that my friends are suffering through, the pain of many others will be reduced. I know that when that happens, they will give all credit to God. That’s the kind of people they are. Even so, they will share in the goodness that comes from their actions as they move to use their own experiences to make other’s lives better and to give a faith boost when it’s most needed.

As I said in the beginning, I’m sure that a Grand Creator has a lot more to a plan that I can’t understand. But I am thankful for the faith boost I received by being able to understand that peace and love will eventually come from my friends’ suffering. They will make sure of it because they are people who follow the words, “A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

Often, readers receive as much help from other readers in the comments section as they do from the blog article, itself. Please be generous with your thoughts and experiences in the comments section. There are lots of people who need what you have to share. This is your chance to help them.

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