In this episode, Angie Austin delves into the profound and often difficult question of why we suffer with returning guest Wally Long. Drawing from his book ‘Why Me, Lord?’, Wally shares his journey of adopting his niece and nephew after a family tragedy and finding peace amidst chaos. Angie and Wally explore the purposes behind our suffering and how it can ultimately make us stronger, supported by Grace Fox’s reflections on incorporating joy and hope into everyday life. Listen in for an uplifting conversation on turning hardship into spiritual strength.
00:20:35 Personal Anecdotes and Spiritual Practices
SPEAKER 02 :
welcome to the good news with angie austin now with the good news here’s angie
SPEAKER 04 :
Hey there, friend. Angie Austin here with the Good News. Wally Long joining us again. His book is Why Me, Lord? Biblical and Practical Answers for Suffering in Our Lives. Wally has joined me numerous times on my show. He was my first guest on the program. I found out about him over a decade ago when he was in the news. I was just leaving the news business and I wanted to get an interview with him for my show. His 12-year-old nephew out on the eastern plains of Burlington, just to give a brief recap of We heard that a mother and father were killed and that their 5-year-old and 9-year-old children, Sarah and Ethan, had been critically injured and they didn’t know if they’d make it. Well, come to find out, it was their brother, the son of the parents, a 12-year-old, who had killed his parents. Sarah and Ethan made it. Wally ended up adopting them. And then you ended up with… 13 kids, but… Potentially, yeah. Yes. So, you know, because you had your own, and then you kind of took on some of the others, even though some of them were raised. Now you’ve become one giant family. And so you’ve written this book, Why Me, Lord? It’s been long in the making. How long have you been thinking about writing this?
SPEAKER 03 :
Several years, actually. Probably about four or five years ago when the thought came to me, because I’d been preaching the sermon that the book is based on for a number of years. And it just seemed like I needed to get that message out to more people. And the only way to do that would be through media like writing a book. And so I began to think about that and pray about that. And honestly was a little bit nervous about doing it because it was just a confidence thing, I guess. I know I could write well. I speak fairly well. And I had a lot of good response from my preaching, but I just wasn’t sure, you know, what if nobody wants to read my book kind of thing. So it took me a little while. to get the courage, I guess, to get it started.
SPEAKER 04 :
I love it that you did. We’ve talked about it for years that you were going to do this, so I’m proud of you for getting it out there because it is such a task to tackle something like that. Okay, so we’ve been kind of working our way through the book, and we’re on part three, so explain what we’re going to learn this week.
SPEAKER 03 :
In part three, we looked at the purposes of our suffering. Part two, we looked at the causes, because when we asked the question, why, why me, Lord? Essentially, it’s a two-part question, because we want to know what causes our suffering. We dealt with that in part two. But we want to know, more importantly, is there any purpose behind it? Is there any reason, is there anything good that can come out of my hardship, out of my suffering, out of my tragedies? And so that’s what we deal with in part three is the purposes of what God uses our suffering for.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, and, you know, just as an aside, you seem so positive to me, you know, with everything you’ve kind of taken on. And, you know, as we’ve mentioned in prior weeks, you’d lost a sister to suicide. And then one of your sons had lost a leg in a motorcycle accident. And… Every time I’ve talked to you and what I see online, because we’ve followed each other on social media for over a decade. I’ve met your wife, who’s wonderful. She is. She is, yeah. And then I met Sarah and Ethan, the kids you adopted that survived this tragedy.
SPEAKER 03 :
They remember you, too. I’ve talked to them both. They remember you, too. Oh, that’s so sweet.
SPEAKER 04 :
um yeah i was just so nervous talking about that in front of them to be honest with you because they were you know younger obviously then when we were having the discussion you know maybe 12-ish or so you know maybe um right and so i just was nervous i don’t know bringing up something so horrible in front of them um involving their family and the loss of their parents and they were very stoic and i didn’t want to get into too many details but OK, so there’s two things I guess I want to ask. How do you stay so positive and are you as positive as you seem? And how how has it been like do the kids talk about it? Is it something do they talk about their parents? Do they you know, how has that been?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. They do talk about their parents from time to time. They mention their parents. We’ve mentioned it to them. We have talked freely in later years, not early on, but in later years we talked more freely about what happened to them and to both of them about where are you at, how are things with you. They both still have some issues with sleeping from time to time. But when they finished counseling, after about three, four years in counseling, the counselor said they were both doing very well, that he didn’t see any issues, but that there could be issues come up any time during their life with that kind of trauma. So we watch for that, and we’ve talked to them and told them, you know, talk about it if you start having issues with that. So, yeah, we do talk about that. Now, as far as me staying positive, I just – I believe what I believe, and what I write in this book is what I believe. I believe that God has done amazing things through our tragedies and through our suffering, and so I can’t help but stay positive, because even though we all go through trials and tribulations, and some of them are small, and we have our share of them now with other adult children that we’re dealing with on some issues. But I just believe what I believe, and I believe God will use what we’re going through even now to bring about something good in our lives and to glorify Him. So I guess I just stay positive because that’s – I really think that’s the only way to be. I think if we get too negative about some things, we maybe can miss – with our blinders on of negativity, we can miss what it is that God is trying to do in our lives through our suffering. So I guess I just try to see what’s good in suffering, what’s good in our trials, what God is trying to do with it. Interesting.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay. All right. All right. Well, let’s work on part three. Why me, Lord? What are you teaching us there after we took that little sidebar, just my interest in your family?
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s all right. I appreciate that. Chapter seven, we talk the first of the eight chapters in part three. I talk about how God uses our suffering to show himself strong in us. I think a lot of times I use an analogy that if we’re going through a field or if a dog is going through a field, he often comes away with a lot of junk attached to his fur, you know, stickers, cockleburs, all those types of things. And, you know, the owner then has to brush those off. And it can be painful, I guess, to the dog sometimes when you start brushing those things off, pulling those things out of his fur. And sometimes we go through life that same way. We go through life and we collect junk, not intentionally. We don’t just go out looking for bad things. But even if we’re trying to do everything right, we collect stuff and stuff kind of gets in the way and it weighs us down or it causes us not to look as pretty, you know, as we should spiritually, I guess. And I think sometimes God uses our suffering to show himself strong in us, to make us more like what he wants us to be, so that people can get rid of the junk so people can see him in our lives. Does that make sense? Well, Paul talked about it in 1 Corinthians. He talked about how he had a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan was beating him up, and apparently God was allowing it. And he prayed over and over and over again for God to remove it. And God finally said, look, in your weakness, I’m strong. And I think that’s where it comes down to is God uses our suffering to show himself strong enough so that when we’re weak, when we can’t do it ourselves, God works through us. And then people see not me. They don’t see me, but they see Jesus in me being strong. And in the book, I relate a story of one of the reporters that interviewed us or interviewed me shortly after it happened. She did a follow-up interview in our family, came to Missouri and did a follow-up interview. Oh, wow. And just to see how the kids were doing. And she wrote me later. And this was in November after the incident that happened in March. So we were still very raw in my heart and mind. And our family, we were still in chaos. But she wrote me later, about a week after the interview, and she said, I have never felt peace in a person’s home like I did in yours. Oh, my goodness. And it blew me away because I wasn’t feeling that kind of peace. I mean, I was still feeling chaos. My life was just all kind of upside down. And we’re in counseling. The kids are in counseling. And we’re still trying to figure out what life is going to look like. But she felt peace. Because God was showing himself strong in our lives. When I had nothing really to give of my own self, God was working through our family to show this woman peace in a home. And I think that’s one of the things that God does in our suffering is to show himself strong so people see his strength working through us.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, and I think you probably in your family had that feeling, that sense of peace long before this ever happened. And so when this happened, you still had that family structure, that feeling, that love within your home. And then Sarah and Ethan joined in. And so even though it was chaotic for you, you had that wonderful biblical Christian base already in your family. And that’s what she felt. Right.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right, right. Yeah, she felt that peace. And I think God sometimes breaks us down in our suffering so that we feel weak. We feel like we don’t have anything else to give. But then that’s when he works through us and shows himself strong in our lives. So that’s Chapter 7. Chapter 8 almost seems like a converse of that one. But in Chapter 8, God uses our suffering to make us stronger. And that’s just like life in general. If you’ve ever been an athlete and you work out, you work out and you cause yourself pain. If I started working out right now, my muscles would be very, very sore. You don’t work out for a long time and you start lifting weights or running, your muscles get sore. But then if you keep going through it, the muscle starts to build. They start building back up. And sometimes I think our suffering is like that. It’s like God working us out spiritually so that we become stronger in the end. It’s painful when we’re going through it. There’s residual pain after we get done, but if we continue to walk through the suffering, after we’re done, we become stronger for it. It strengthens our faith. It strengthens our outlook on life. It gives us a better perspective. If We just allow God to use our suffering to make us stronger. But I think that’s one of the other, that’s chapter eight, that’s one of the other purposes that God does for our suffering. I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but I think one of the things that when I talk about this chapter or this part, purpose of our suffering, I don’t think God allows our suffering to go to waste. Oh, that’s a good way to put it. Yeah, well, we talk about it with politicians. tongue-in-cheek. You know, a politician never lets a good tragedy go to waste. He always makes political points out of it, right? No matter what it is, no matter which side of the aisle you’re on. And we say that tongue-in-cheek of politicians, but I think of God, it really is true. God doesn’t allow our suffering to go to waste. He doesn’t cause it. It’s not His intention. It wasn’t His intended purpose for His people to suffer. But when sin brought suffering to the world, God uses all of that for some benefit in our lives. It doesn’t mean, you know, that there’s a phrase people try to use, there’s a silver lining behind every cloud, or, you know, we try to lightly use some cliche to make it seem like everything is going to work out fine. Well, sometimes everything doesn’t work out fine. You know, my son didn’t get his leg back. His leg is gone forever. But God can still use tragedy and use our suffering for some benefit to our lives and to his kingdom. So those are the first two. He shows himself strong in us, and he uses our suffering sometimes to make us stronger.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I guess the good news is that since we’re not through Part 3, and we only got through Chapters 7 and 8, that we’ll continue going through the book. And then I’d love to have you keep coming on, because you have worked in ministry. I know you can come up with other topics within the realm of your book and other things to talk about. Because I know God leads you in discussing and speaking and talking about some of these things with churches and you do speaking events, etc. So let’s continue the chatting. And if people want to find you, WallyLong.com and the book Why Me, Lord. Thank you, friend. You’re a real blessing to have on the program.
SPEAKER 03 :
Take care, Will. We’ll talk to you again soon. Talk to you soon. Bye-bye.
SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
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SPEAKER 04 :
Hello there, friend. Angie Austin and Grace Fox with the good news. We’re talking about her book, Fresh Hope, for today, Devotions for Joy on the Journey. And today we are focusing on precious words. Hello there, Grace.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hi, Angie. It’s good to be on your show again.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes. So we both got in late last night, huh? You got in from helping out with the grandkids, and I got in from helping out my son at a big convention, so we’re a little bleary-eyed. So let’s focus on these precious words to bring some joy to our journey.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right. Yeah, this one is really written about… god’s words being the precious words and i love what the prophet jeremiah wrote he said when your words came i ate them they were my joy and my heart’s delight for i bear your name lord god almighty and i thought you know as christ followers do we regard the word of god with joy and delight or do we sometimes treat it like a Something on our to-do list. Oh, got to do my devotions. Check. Done. Okay, done. Now I can go on to the next thing for the day. Do we really long for them and hunger after them and look forward to digging into them? That’s a good question to ask ourselves.
SPEAKER 04 :
That is a good question because I think many of us do fall flat when it comes to pursuing the Word in that manner.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, I remember reading years ago somewhere where Beth Moore had made that her prayer. She had said, God, would you give me an insatiable desire for your word? And he did that, and she’s become such a wonderful Bible teacher. So I made that my prayer, too. And when my kids were still at home, I remember thinking, oh, I’m tired, and I’d love to sleep in in the morning, but well reality said i had to get up you know get some food on for them and then they had to catch a bus so we did have a schedule to keep and i found that if i waited until after my kids were gone to sit down and read the word it didn’t work for me because i just got caught up in other things that i’d see around me that needed to be done and so i said to one day lord you just Wake me up at the time you want me to get up and meet with you to dig into your word today because I know I need it. And so, yeah. And I thought this is between me and the Lord. This isn’t between my husband and the Lord and me. It’s not a triangular thing. So if I’m going to wake up at a certain time. I don’t think I need to have the alarm clock set when my husband’s going to wake up, too. Let’s just let him deal with that. He can get up when he needs to get up or wants to get up. And so I said, Lord, wake me up when you want me to wake up without an alarm. And the first morning, it was 5 a.m. I remember saying, you’re kidding, right? You’ve got to be kidding me. So I got up, dragged myself out. It took me 15 or 20 minutes to do that that morning. And then the next morning, I said, okay, Lord, let’s see. or that night, you know, looking forward to the next morning, I said, let’s do this again. Wait, did he let you sleep in?
SPEAKER 04 :
Did he let you sleep in?
SPEAKER 05 :
No, it was five o’clock and it was that every single morning. And like, I would wake up this thing, my eyes wide open. One time the cat came in and sat beside my side of the bed and meowed at like four 58. And it was, that’s the way it was. And so I got the message. And you know, it takes several weeks to develop a habit. And I just did it because I said, I prayed it. I asked him to wake me up when he wanted to meet with me in the living room. And I did it. And you know what? It was beautiful. It got to be, it wasn’t a hardship at all. It was, he’s waiting for me and I don’t want to disappoint. I don’t want to disappoint him.
SPEAKER 04 :
And so what did you do when you got up? Like, what did you read? What did you, do you have certain devotionals you like? Like, how does that work for you?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, one thing that I started doing right out of the gate when I got into that regular habit was I got myself a Bible in an easy-to-understand translation. And for me, the New Living translation is a favorite because it’s in modern-day English. We actually use that overseas, too, when we’re doing camps and studying the Bible with people whose first language is not English, just because it is so easy to understand. So that’s the one that I use. But I bought myself a Bible that reads through the Bible in a year. And I got a Bible that’s got big margins in it as well. So I can write notes. It’s got lines for me to write on. And so I read a little bit of the Old Testament and the New Testament, the Psalms and the Proverbs. And it’s all written out for me. It’s got, you know, here’s day one. This is a chunk you read from each one. Here’s day two. Here’s a chunk you read. And I was amazed to see how I could see the thread of the gospel and the thread of Jesus woven throughout that day’s assigned reading from New Testament to Old Testament and the Psalms. It was amazing to me. So I started that habit many years ago because my kids are grown and gone and they have kids of their own. I’m still doing it using the read through the Bible in a year method. It really works for me.
SPEAKER 04 :
You know, I love that. And I have different friends who have different routines. For me, writing things down helps. So if I am praying, then journaling helps me to keep my thoughts more clear. And then I do feel like I write things in terminology or in a way that doesn’t seem like it’s all me. It feels like I’m definitely being led to think or say or write certain things that might help me. So that’s kind of cool. I also, if you don’t mind, I did, you know, of course, when I was flipping through to get to our devotion today about the precious words, I did actually flip to the next page. And if you don’t mind, I love this story. It’s called The Right Path. Because I think you’ve had some really cool adventures in your life, like living in Nepal and… You were in Poland in the last year or two since we’ve been talking, and you were meeting with people who were helping people in the Ukraine and running a ministry and your own ministry where you were going to build up some of your people who might be exhausted from trying to help others. And in this particular one, it’s called The Right Path. It says that you guys, your husband, you call him Sailor Man because you guys live on your sailboat. But anyway, you’re biking through Germany into Austria, which I have to be honest with you, not a lot of people have done some of the things you’ve done. I don’t know if you realize that. Like, you’re a grandma and you go take care of the grandkids, but I don’t know if you realize, like, there are little chapters in your life that not many people have done the things you’ve done.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, I have to stop and remember that sometimes because I kind of get out there and I live my life and I do what the next step leads me to do. And I do forget that my life’s maybe a little bit extraordinary in that way. This one was some friends of ours had done several trips riding their bikes through Europe and they kept on it. You guys got to do this. And so one summer it worked out and we drove all week. We left on a Sunday I think we had a hotel in Germany and then on Monday morning we left on our bikes I’ve never done anything like this didn’t didn’t even know I had it in me to do it but we biked every single day sometimes through pouring rainstorms and blistering heat where we stopped for lunch and all of us were just so sweaty and hot we couldn’t even eat we had ice cream for lunch because we didn’t feel like eating anything else but this was yeah what we drove into a little village and We had hotel reservations, but we looked at a fork in the road and we looked at a map. We didn’t know where we were. And we could not figure out where this hotel was. So this guy on a motorcycle drove by and he saw us studying this map of the town. And then he motioned for us to follow him when we chatted with him a little bit, told him where we were going. He didn’t speak English, we didn’t speak his language, but we were pointing and trying to do the actions. And he just motioned for us to follow him. So he puttered along on his bike and we pedaled behind him and he led us to the hotel. And I thought, you know, that’s like God’s word. As we were talking a moment ago about precious words, God directs us on how we should live in his word. Now, if we had looked at this guy and said, We don’t want to follow you. What do you mean, follow you? We don’t trust you. That would have been nonsensical. The guy was a local. He knew where to go, and he was being kind. He cared for us. And God, with his word, he’s showing us where to go. He knows what’s best for us. He cares for us. And if we say, these words, you want us to follow them? Are you kidding? Nah, no. That would be nonsensical. But the word of God is written for our well-being, and he knows best for us. He leads us on the path we should go and we need to follow. Those words are precious. And he cares, just like this guy in Germany cared for our well-being.
SPEAKER 04 :
I love it that, you know, you couldn’t communicate. You’re pointing. You’re trying to show him, like, the hotel. And he just waves, you know, follow me and goes super slow on his motorcycle to show you where to go. And you can’t even really communicate to say, I mean, obviously, there’s the universal communication of a smile and a wave, you know, thank you, you know, for taking us here, per se. But I love the idea that you just followed him with blind trust. And I think it is a good example of how we’re supposed to follow Jesus. And I like it in your ponder and pray section. He said, ponder how has following God’s path brought a blessing to your life, your way, and then pray, God grant me the desire to follow you with enthusiasm on the path you know is best. I mean, to be honest with you, I think even taking that trip, you know, it sounds great and glorious until you describe it as pounding rain and, you know, and searing heat. So I am curious what,
SPEAKER 05 :
overall what was your experience and how long were you riding and how far did you ride yeah so we started pedaling on monday morning and we arrived in vienna late saturday afternoon i remember getting into the hotel where we stayed flopping down on my back on the bed and thinking i don’t think i can ever move again my bottom was so sore from riding on that seat and But it was great because we didn’t even do a hard ride. We rode along the river. We saw cruise ships going by. But because we were along a river, it’s mostly flat. There were a few places where we did have to deviate from the river and go inland more. And then we had a few hills and ups and downs. But we drove through vineyards where fruit was growing on the trees. Oh, unbelievable. You know, little fruit stands where the honesty system was there. So a little jar for your money, and you could take a basket of freshly picked fruit. Driving through villages where you’d see the flower baskets hanging on people’s windowsills, overflowing with blossoms. It was just the most incredible trip. I would do it again, but I would have to get into better shape before I did it again.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, my goodness. I love these adventures because it takes so much to get to that adventure, right? Just your tickets, the bike, the rentals, all of the little details. You know, when we take vacations with the kids, they just jump in the car and get on their phones. And I’m like, well, somebody going to navigate me? And, you know, we’re going to do this, that, the other. Like my son yesterday, we got in really late because I helped him with a convention all weekend in Houston. And he wanted to fall asleep in the car. And I’m like, there’s a lot left to do here, pal. You know, we’ve got like four hours till we even have to get to the airport for the really late night flight. So what are we going to see? What are we going to do? Where are we going to go? You know, help me with the navigation. We need to get gas. We need to repack the suitcases. Like you’re not a kid anymore. You don’t just plop in the back of the van and get on your phone. But these kids, they think that just these vacations just are like, I use a magic wand and I’m like Tinkerbell. And I go, ting and like here’s your vacation no it’s like the rental car and how to get there do we take a shuttle bus which you know how do we get direction do we take a toll road is there construction here is there a lot of traffic there you know which room are we going to stay in can we have pets can we not have pets do we have to smuggle our pet in a backpack I mean, there’s so many little things that you have to figure out. The food, you know, I pre-ordered it. We have to go to the curbside pickup. But, you know, just getting to a vacation like that, it’s just such a… a hill to tackle just to get there and then the achievement of, you know, tackling the vacation itself. But boy, the memories, you can’t beat those. I love your stories, Grace. Thank you so much. GraceFox.com and the book is Fresh Hope for Today, Devotions for Joy on the Journey. Thank you, friend.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you for listening to The Good News with Angie Austin on AM670 KLTT.
In this episode, Angie Austin delves into the profound and often difficult question of why we suffer with returning guest Wally Long. Drawing from his book ‘Why Me, Lord?’, Wally shares his journey of adopting his niece and nephew after a family tragedy and finding peace amidst chaos. Angie and Wally explore the purposes behind our suffering and how it can ultimately make us stronger, supported by Grace Fox’s reflections on incorporating joy and hope into everyday life. Listen in for an uplifting conversation on turning hardship into spiritual strength.
