When your heart is broken, there’s a right question to ask and some wrong ones.

My friend Traci should know. Her heart didn’t just break; it shattered when her daughter Anna died in a car wreck on a lonely stretch of highway four years ago.

God taught Traci the right question to ask as her heart bled deep grief.

This question brings us comfort, healing, and peace.

Click the link to read her post: When Your Heart is Broken, Ask the Right Question: What For? not Why? or What if?

“What For?” Not “Why?” or “What if?”

by Traci Burns

In the weeks and months that followed Anna’s accident, I’d sit and wonder.

And I asked God a lot of questions.

Why?  

Why did this have to happen?

Was she tired and fell asleep at the wheel?  

Was there debris in the road?  

Did a deer or some other animal run out in front of her truck?  

What if she had been driving a different vehicle? Would the accident still have happened?

Better yet, what if her dad and I had never let her move out of our house so she wouldn’t have been on the interstate that night?    

The questions kept coming.  

Then I finally realized . . . let me correct that . . . then the Lord showed me:

If I knew every answer to every question I ever had, it would not change the fact that my precious daughter died instantly in a car accident on April 14, 2012.

At Anna’s memorial service, I heard sweet stories about Anna. Her friends and family remembered her with great love.  

Also, the minister shared the gospel message of how to accept Jesus and spend eternity in Heaven with Him.  

After his message, he asked if anyone had made the decision to trust Christ. More than 30 people raised their hands!  

One of those hands belonged to my 77-year-old mother-in-law.  

Another hand belonged to a friend Anna had known since third grade.

I could name more because Jesus gave me the “gift” of knowing several of the people who made that decision.

When I started asking “What for?” instead of “Why?” or “What if?” I began to see how Jesus was working in my tragedy to bring Himself glory and lost souls to salvation.

And He brought me comfort by letting me see a small glimpse of the wonderful What For?

“Why?” or “What if?” will drive you crazy. “What for?” will drive you to God. And that’s the best place to be.

With a grateful heart,

Traci

If you’ve missed any of Traci’s posts about her journey and the wonderful truths God has revealed to her through it, check out her first post here: 

Are You Facing a Storm? Jesus Is Bigger Than We Let Him Be

Traci Burns is a wife, mom, and messenger of hope and healing. She never planned to be a blogger. She also never planned to live a story that must be told. Now, wherever Traci can, she shares the peace and comfort she’s found — even in the midst of pain — in a God who’s good all the time. She spreads the news with joy and laughter that Jesus Christ, the One who stills the storms, wants to steer our boat. Traci and her husband Weyland live in Lexington, SC. Their two sons live in the Greenville, SC area. Their daughter lives in heaven.

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