All That God Has Done

It started with a box of letters from Togo, West Africa.

During a cross-country visit to see my husband’s family, my husband’s aunt, Shirley Cropsey, told me that someday, she wanted to write a book. During the 1980s and ’90s, when her family had been medical missionaries in Togo, West Africa, she sent hundreds and hundreds of letters to her mom. Grandma Kate kept all of them.

I had heard tales of Shirley’s adventures about the various African pets her four sons adopted, the amazing cases the medical team treated at the hospital, and a period of civil unrest during which a mob chased her in the market. Her stories were captivating and exotic, but more than that, they encouraged me to see how God was working worldwide.

The Togo letters, which held all those treasured stories and more, sat in a box in Shirley’s Michigan basement.

“I could organize those for you,” I said. And before I knew it, the box traveled back with us to Kansas.

As I opened the box at home, I realized it was going to be a bigger job than I had anticipated. Not only had Grandma Kate saved Shirley’s letters from Africa, but there seemed to be all of Grandma Kate’s 1980s and ’90s mail in the box. I sorted through newspaper clippings, birthday cards, and a gas bill or two. I diligently put them in piles.

Once they were sorted, I took the pile of Shirley’s letters from Africa, which was the largest, and put each letter into a plastic sleeve. I arranged the letters in chronological order into binders. By the end, I had four extra-large binders full of letters that spanned from the early 1980s to 2000.

Shirley’s eyes widened as I handed over the binders a year later.

“Just see what memories spark,” I said. “That’s where your book will start.”

At our next annual visit, I asked Shirley how her book was going.

“I haven’t even touched it,” she admitted.

That’s when the next step came to me. Even though I could see the enormity of the project, I felt God’s push.

“What if I typed up the parts of your letters that interest me?” I asked. “You’ve already written them. Perhaps your book is already written.”

At the time, my husband and I were between moves. We had a toddler and another baby on the way. I was no longer teaching, but we still had a lot happening in our family.

Shirley declined at first, acknowledging my busy season, but I felt sure God wanted me to be a part of the project. As someone who loves and studies words, I had the skills to help Shirley. Even though it would complicate my routine—trying to set aside time to work on the project amid baby duties and adjustments to a new community—I wondered how God would use Shirley’s story for his kingdom. What I didn’t understand was how much her letters would encourage me.

Step by step, we typed, edited, and shaped Shirley’s letters into a manuscript. As my circumstances ebbed and flowed, I worked on the project. Some days, I found myself at my desk, surrounded by Shirley’s letters, not knowing how God would work things out in my life. Then her words found me.

Even though some of her letters were written before I was born, I could relate to her struggles. In the thick of homesickness or chronic illness, Shirley filled her letters with Scripture and godly insight. They were intended as communication to her mom, but they also became visual representations of God’s goodness during pain. In one letter, Shirley might share her physical struggles, and then in the next, she might write about a miracle she had witnessed through their ministry. Despite the hurdles she faced, Shirley remained dependent on God, and God used her and her family to reach the Togolese people for Christ.

At one point in the project, Shirley asked me if I still wanted to continue.

“You’ve put a lot of work already into this task. Are you sure it’s worth it? Will anyone want to read it?” she asked.

Shirley’s words had reminded me how God serves and protects—how he places us right where we need to be, even if that means we’re in the midst of struggle.

God uses our struggles in ways we cannot imagine. He had used Shirley’s struggle to encourage me, and I wondered how many others could benefit from reading her history.

“Your story has some exotic parts to it,” I said. “Not everyone comes face-to-face with mobs or African snakes, but we all have hurdles that distract us from God’s call in our lives. As I read your letters, I can see how God used your struggle for his purposes. I am reminded of all God has done in my life, and it gives me hope for all he will do in my children’s lives.”

She nodded in agreement. We would stay the course.

In one of her letters, after another unbelievable life event, Shirley wrote, “Mom, are you still keeping my letters? Please do. One day they will serve as a reminder of all that God has done.”

As Shirley and I looked at that phrase, “All that God has done,” we knew it was the foundational message of her book.

“I just want to give God all the glory for my story,” Shirley said.

Instead of titling Shirley’s book All God has Done, we titled it What God Can Do. We didn’t want Shirley’s story just to be a nice book to read on a lazy summer day. We wanted to hold it up as a prayer for the future. God gives all of us a story. Now, Shirley has shared her story to encourage others, especially her grandchildren, to see God at work in their lives and give them hope for all God has yet to do.

Psalm 145:4 says,

“One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts” (NIV).

Shirley would tell you she is just an ordinary woman. God did extraordinary things in her and her family’s lives not because they were in Africa, not because they were missionaries, but because they were open and obedient to God’s call. Through her book, she shares all that God has done in and through her. But she tells her story in hopes that it will spark the same question she once asked herself: “What can God do through me?”

God has placed gifts and passions in each one of us. As I listened to God’s prompting to work on Shirley’s project, I was blessed during some of my most challenging years.

God is all-powerful. He can do whatever he pleases. But he wants to work through people like you and me. How has God prepared you? How is God calling you to use your gifts for his kingdom? What will your story say about all that God has done?

ASHLEY C. SHANNON is a wife, mom, and writer. She lives in the Midwest with her husband and two children.

SHIRLEY CROPSEY is wife to Bob, mom of four adult sons, and a former nurse and missionary to Togo, West Africa. During her time on a medical mission team in the 1980s and 90s, she wrote hundreds of letters to her mom about her cultural adjustments, chronic illness, and the challenges of raising a family in a foreign country. These letters formed the basis of her book, What God Can Do: Letters to My Mom from the Medical Mission Field of Togo, West Africa. Today, although her health is still characteristic of a yoyo, Shirley enjoys mentoring others in Bible studies, writing letters of encouragement, and spending time with her family, especially her 13 grandchildren. She lives in Ypsilanti, Michigan.