What If It’s Actually a Blessing? • followHIM Favorites • Oct 26–Nov 1 • Come, Follow Me 2026

In the middle of Lamentations, a book the podcast host calls “Depression,” Jeremiah writes about remembering his affliction and misery—the wormwood and the gall—and then says something strange: “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.” The hope comes not from the suffering ending, but from the conviction that God’s mercies do not fail. That paradox is the thread of this episode, and the hosts use a single extended parable to explore it.

The central story comes from Max Lucado’s The Woodcutter’s Wisdom. An old man in a tiny village owns a beautiful white horse that he refuses to sell. One morning the horse is gone. The neighbors call it a curse. The old man replies: “Say only that the horse is not in the stable. That’s all we know. The rest is judgment on your part.” Fifteen days later the horse returns, bringing a dozen wild horses with him. Now the neighbors call it a blessing. The old man says again: “Say only that the horse is back. We don’t know if it’s a blessing or a curse yet.” His son tries to break the wild horses, falls, and breaks both legs. Curse, the neighbors insist. The old man refuses to judge. A few weeks later war breaks out; all the young men are conscripted except the son with the broken legs. Now the neighbors are certain: the accident was a blessing. The old man’s final reply is the episode’s thesis: “No one knows. Say only this. Your sons had