Love to hear from and know who is listening
I raised 3 girls so when my daughters were younger there was never any lack of drama in my household. My youngest daughter Sara seemed the most likely to come to me with some situation that seemed to be the end of the world, at least to her, and usually it involved a boy! To any of you that have had daughters I am sure this comes as no surprise to you. I heard a story the other day that reminded me so much of my daughter Sara. In the story this a teen girl came to her mother with tears in her eyes and begin to tell her of just how awful her day at school had been. First she had a pop test in her math class that she was not prepared, so she failed the test. Next her boy friend told her that he was breaking up with her and to top it all off she learned from her other friends that the reason her boyfriend was breaking up with her was because he was going out with her best friend. In response to the young girls disastrous day her mother said would you like for me to bake you a cake? The young girl said, “Oh yes Mom! Your sweet treats are just wonderful!” So her mother measured out some flour in a bowl and handed it to her daughter, who replied yuck I am not eating dry flour. Then her mother measured out some vegetable oil and handed to her, to which she received the response mom that is nasty. Next she cracked some eggs and handed the girl some raw eggs. With a confused look on her face the young girl said “Mom I thought you were going to make me a yummy cake?” Her mother replied to her, “Honey these are all ingredients of the cake. Separate they are really not good at all, but if you put them together in a bowel, beat them with a mixer and then bake them in the oven at 350 degrees for an hour they become a tasty sweet cake. I know all the things that happened to you at school today may have seemed terrible but God is still in control and he is working all things together for your good.
Romans 8:28 NIV And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Do you believe truly believe that God can work all things together in your life His glory and your good! It is not hard to see how God and use the sweet things in your life for your good and His glory, but how can he use the sorrowful things like the loss of a loved one! What about a sickness, how in the world can God use sickness for His glory? Well I tell you he can. I had a son that died of an unknown disease. If you had asked me at the time how God could use this for his glory I could not have given you an answer. Twenty years later my eldest daughter gave birth to my first grandson, James. He had the same illness as my son, but now the doctors knew how to treat it. It would require a bone marrow transplant. They gave us a grim outlook on finding a matching donor. However just 2 weeks later they found a perfect match. The donor did his part and with his bone marrow donation he sent a small stuffed animal and a card that said, “I have done my part the rest is in God's hands!” My family received a miracle that day! My grandson James will be 16 years old December of 2022. It took from 1988 to 2006 for God to work the sickness and sorrow in my life for my good and His glory but he did because God works all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.
The rugged hope of the believer is not that we will escape distress, peril, hunger or slaughter, but that Almighty God will make every one of our agonies an instrument of His mercy to do us good! Joseph may have said it best when he addressed his brothers who had sold him into slavery!
Genesis 50:20 NIV You intended to harm me, but God intended
