Copyright © 2025 Chantelle Henderson
This morning, during my quiet time, I was thinking about life and the fact that it’s not measured in time and years, but rather the moments and memories of the people I’ve known, the places I’ve traveled to, the adventures I’ve been on, the books I read, the seasons brokenness and the seasons of mountain victories. It’s relationships, family dinners, cups of coffee, rain beating against windows, and booming thunder. It’s the breeze of autumn, and the smell of a freshly mowed lawn in the summer. It is the people I’ve told about Jesus.
It is holy moment after holy moment that is birthed out of a life created and formed by the hands of a loving and sovereign Father.
Following are some of the questions I began to ask myself because the answers make up the inches, feet, and miles of my life. They are not defined by space or time.
To start out slowly, just ask me about my addiction to all things coffee, books, reading glasses, documentaries, and true crime.
Ask me why I love all genres of music, movies, and books.
Ask me about our move from Georgia to Florida-a season that lasted for four years. The entire time I was homesick and I despised living in Tampa. I was extremely bitter. I just knew it was a mistake of epic portions-that we were never supposed to leave Georgia to begin with. Boy, was I wrong. Ask me why I now know, without a doubt, that it was God’s perfect will for us to live there the entire four years.
Ask me why Siesta Key Beach was my only escape, with its powder sand and sea birds that freaked me out every single time. You would think I was running from a whale on land.
Ask me why I want a HUGE fiesta when I leave this earth. Just hire the best DJ and blast hits from the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. At the top of the playlist will be Brick House, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Landslide, Sweet Child O’ Mine, I will Survive, A Sunday Kind Of Love, Lead Me On, What A Wonderful World, Ice Ice Baby, Blue Skies, How Will I know, and R.E.S.P.E.C.T. I know you may think it’s morbid to say all of these things but it’s not at all. Don't we leave a will when we die? This is just a part of mine. This is my way of saying that I don’t want a funeral, but rather a celebration of life where laughter, joy, funny stories, and sweet memories abound.
Ask me why I call my mom Hazel or Madea.
Ask me how and why I dated someone who proposed after 3 weeks of dating, and got married 7 seven months later. He was a stranger that I barely knew at all. I pledged my love for him in front of family and friends even though I knew love on my part was absent.
Along those lines, ask me why I never had a boyfriend until I met Ryan.
Ask me why I strive to
be real, honest, and transparent with all people; speaking the truth in love. And why I embrace others who do the same.
Ask me how I came to accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior at nine years old.
Ask me why I cherish the dances in the kitchen with my husband with no music at all, as well as dancing at gas stations when their music blasting. Ask me when and how it started.
Ask me why people say I am an old soul.
Ask me how I became an overcomer and survivor, who was set free in order to set others free by telling them about the furious longing of a God who desires to set free, rescue, restore, and redeem them; why He desires for them to know that He is able to turn their ashes into something beautiful.
Ask me why I want to embolden voiceless, shame-filled, insecure, forgotten, lost, abandoned, and rejected women-why I want them to know they matter, and more than anything else, that they are loved and accepted just as they are.
I strive to be beacon of light for the oddballs, brokenhearted, outcasts, under dogs. I want to hold the hurting, the wounded, and those who so desperately long to feel wanted, loved, whole, and accepted. I want to be the hands and feet of Jesus, by radiating His love, mercy, and grace while giving Him ALL the glory, honor, and praise for what He has done and is yet to do.
For the rest of my days I will pursue growth in compassion, love, knowledge, wisdom, and understanding through the word of God, building relationships, fellowship with church family, serving others, bible studies, and prayer.
While reflecting on all the “ask-me-why’s”, this I do know, the beginning and end to all the answers is that I want to know Him and make Him known. I (and you) overcome and conquer the enemy because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of our testimony. Share your stories.
Summing it all up, I want to walk out Matthew 22:36-39 because it is exactly how life is measured. It is what’s required to answer all the why’s of life. If you don’t do these, you will try to do it in your own strength, a strength that can only come through Him.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Lord willing, I still have many journeys to go on,
books to read, new music to discover, new friends to make, and untold stories to write.
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