The Story of the Hamster Wheel: How "Why Me?" Became "What Now?" By Cortney Donelson

Exodus 9:16 (NIV)
“But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

I stood in the pet store and watched the hamster spinning his rickety wheel. “That’s us,” I thought out loud. Our lives had become one giant hamster wheel where every day we woke up, partook in the same routine tasks packaged as the “American Dream,” and then went to bed feeling exhausted yet unfulfilled. My husband and I watched the hamster for a few more minutes. “Using all that energy and going nowhere,” my husband observed. We went home feeling depressed.

The depressed mood came and went for several years. We knew life was more than the American Dream. It’s more than jobs, grocery stores, car repairs, sick kids, karate, church, birthday parties, bills, friends, or even success. We knew God created us for a very specific purpose, and we were not living it yet. We just didn’t know how to find that specific purpose!

Explaining this feeling to others was difficult. We had been small group leaders and volunteered in a myriad of opportunities inside and outside the church. Some people thought that was “enough” … but God wasn’t done with us yet.

Our marriage and spirits had already survived more than three years of infertility struggles. Due to those struggles, our God-ordained path had taken us to Russia and then to China for the adoption of our children. In many cases, people thought that was “enough” … but God wasn’t done with us yet.

My husband and I read the book “Radical” by David Platt. One of many thought-provoking quotes from his book is "…have we replaced what is radical about our faith with what is comfortable? Are we settling for Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity is actually about abandoning ourselves?" We wondered what we might abandon to be radical about discovering God’s purpose for us.

Over the next few months, we continued to sense that God was preparing us for something big. I felt as if I was ready for anything – anything that would help us define our purpose. Be careful what you pray for! One day it materialized. Terrible news rocked our world. Exodus 9:16 says, “But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” It’s a powerfully intimidating verse if you are willing to follow it to the end of God’s story and not just to the limited expectations of how you want your story to read. We were about to abandon the hamster wheel.

God had been relentlessly preparing our hearts so that when the time came, we would not fall down but be raised up for the purpose He designed for us. Queen Esther knew a little something about being raised up to fulfill a God-given destiny. In Esther 4:14, as she is learning about the plans to murder all the Jews, it reads, “... And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”  When our world fell apart, most people would have run for the hills – we fell to our knees. From our “royal” position, we asked, “What now, God?” instead of asking, “Why me, God?”

See, the “Why us?” question had been answered throughout all the years following the visit to that pet store. We abandoned the “Why us?” because the answer is it’s ALL of us. All of us will go through a crisis. All of us will make choices about how we respond to those crises. All of us have weaknesses that are made perfect through Christ who strengthens us. All of us have a destiny. So, when the time came for our specific destiny to be revealed, the better question became, “What now, God? What do we do now? Show us how You will make this beautiful. Help us understand what we can do to use this for your story for us – a story that will glorify You and impact many if we choose to say yes.”

Do you sometimes feel like you are running on that hamster wheel? Do you get to the end of a day and ask, “What is the point?” Do you sense a bigger purpose for your life? My guess is that it’s a common feeling … to believe God has a plan for you that is more significant than any “American Dream.” When tough times come, perhaps you will choose to change your question. Rather than asking God, “Why me?,” try asking Him, “What now?” You might just get an answer that will bump you off that rickety wheel and change your life forever!


Prayer – God, thank You for the promise of eternity. Despite challenges and dark valleys in this life, we know we can lean on You and ask the question, “What now?” – perhaps catching a glimpse of Your purpose for our lives here on earth. Remind us that Your plans take us past this world and into Your Kingdom where our ultimate destiny will finally be realized. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

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