Today, September 8, 2024, marks three years since Jesus sent His angels to escort Jasmine to her heavenly home.
Jasmine was hospitalized with COVID. During her hospitalization, I began a blog to keep everyone updated on her condition. The blog became more than medical updates; I also chronicled the faith lessons from God I learned through this crisis. After He called Jasmine home, I created another blog about learning to live anew in the aftermath of my loss.
The blogs during and after this crisis became the core content for my first book, “What Now God? Rising from the Pain of Loss and Learning to Live Again”. Writing about my journey through Jasmine’s illness, passing, and the aftermath was God’s prescription for my healing.
Losing our spouse feels like being robbed of the life we’ve known and our shared dreams for the future. Personally, it meant losing not only my spouse but also my ministry partner. We were a counseling team. Our spiritual gifts complemented each other as we fulfilled our calling from God. But that partnership was no longer to be.
Forced change is an unwelcome imposition, but it is also a beginning, not an end. Finding a “new normal” entails discovering opportunities we may have never considered or predicted. One of the most significant discoveries on a healing journey is the restoration of hope—knowing that God’s purpose for living endures despite a life-altering loss.
After publishing “What Now, God?” finding my new normal led me to ask the same question as the book title, What now, God? Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you” (Matt. 7:7 ESV).
I asked, I sought, and I knocked, and I was perplexed when I thought I heard Him say, “Write a novel about childhood sexual abuse.” Was that really God speaking? I would never have come up with that on my own. I shared it with some trusted friends, and their responses confirmed that I was indeed hearing from God. The result was writing “Shelley’s Story” and a sequel, “Shelley’s Petals.”
I was 65 when Jasmine passed; she was 70. (Yes, 36 years earlier, she robbed the cradle. 😊) Looking back, I realize that while losing her rudely disrupted my life, God’s purpose for me to impact lives for Christ remains intact. When He led me to write “What Now, God?” He pivoted the course of my primary ministry from counseling to writing. (A companion resource book to the “Shelley” novels is in the works.)
Brothers, when we said “I do” at the altar, whether five or fifty years ago, we never anticipated the day we would qualify for this group … but here we are. So, we ask, “What now, God?”
Losing our spouse means the life that we had known is gone forever. Sometimes, it feels like God’s purpose for living has also been lost, but it isn’t. If you are a Christ follower, ask, knock, and seek. If you discern God leading you on a new venture, journey, or even relationship, place your confidence in Him and step out in faith. “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps” (Prov. 16:9 ESV).
Stop and Consider.
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