Ever since I was an older teen, my favorite Bible verse has been Romans 8:28,
“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.”
A Christian gal that I knew slightly shared that verse with me at a difficult time in my life. That verse for me provides great encouragement and comfort which helps build and strengthen my faith, especially during the difficult times.
It is important to keep in mind the two conditions that are present in order for “God to work all for our good”—loving God and being called according to His purposes.
To me, loving God means coming to that point in our lives when we surrender everything to Him. We begin to realize everything we have and everything we are is a gift from God.
Being called according to His purposes is knowing the Lord calls us to do His will and then following His will—not ours.
My faith is always strengthened by seeing how God truly does work things out for us. One example of this was about a year ago. My oldest son needed to have his wisdom teeth pulled, and we wanted it done before college started again and before our already scheduled, week long vacation. I thought it was going to work out for a Monday appointment which was going to be perfect. Long story short was that by the time the Dr. saw the xrays, only 24 hrs after the initial phone call, the Monday appointment was already taken by someone else. The next appointment they had was two weeks later. It was a big difference for us because that meant he only had 12 days to recover before our vacation. We weren’t sure how great he would be feeling or how hard it would really be to eat anything he wanted. (Especially because it was a cruise vacation.)
Thankfully, I thought about asking to be put on a cancellation list. I will admit I was not happy that my plan was not working out like I wanted it to or thought it should! I did reluctantly try to turn it over to the Lord letting Him work it out.
Much to my amazement two days later they called at 10:30 in the morning saying that had a cancellation for 1:15 pm that day! To make it even more amazing was the fact that my son had not eaten or drank anything since the night prior. If he had, they would not have been able to do the surgery because of the anesthesia. God worked it out perfectly for us. It was a great relief to get it done so soon especially since my son was so concerned and worried about the surgery. This way, he didn’t have more time to think about it!
Another example in my life of God working things out for the good was when I recently received an email request to pray for a gal from our Bible Study who was going to be making a Women’s Retreat. The instant I got that email, I had this overwhelming feeling that I was suppose to be there as well. I wasn’t even quite sure what the retreat was like! My friend thought it was full which was indeed confirmed when I finally got a hold of the person in charge a good day later. This time I really felt that God would provide an opening for me to be able to go, and I prayed that He would work it out. Sure enough…two days later I got the call that a spot was available. I then found out I needed a sponsor and had paperwork to fill out, but again, all that fell right into place even though the time was short before the retreat. I cannot begin to tell you what a blessed experience that retreat was, and I am so thankful God worked it all out.
It definitely was a God thing because as a follow up from this retreat you are suppose to have small group sharings and then bigger group get-togethers. During our 32 week Bible Study I felt that this gal and I were suppose to continue to connect after the Bible Study ended. I am thankful to say that tomorrow we are slated to have our second small group meeting, and it has been quite the blessing already!
Can you think of some examples in your life of God working things for your good?
It is such a comfort and joy to know that God takes care of everything and works it for our good if we love Him and are called according to His purposes.
No matter what happens or what comes our way, our loving Father is working it all out for our good—He is watching over us. We need to remain faithful to Him and to keep loving Him.
The Lord watches over all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy. –Psalm 145:20
Sometimes we get disheartened because as much as we try to be good we still experience turmoils. But as long as we stick to His will all things work for our good. 🙂
How true, Lux! Thanks for sharing and reading! I appreciate your encouraging words and thoughts. 🙂