Wednesday, January 25, 2012

All Things Work Together For Good

I'm not sure how many times I've read Romans 8:28, which says, "We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.", but last night, during our family devotion, I learned something that I had never really thought much about before.

We have a book called "The One Year Book of Family Devotions" and each day there's a Bible scripture and a story to read that goes along with the scripture. It's great because the stories are very much geared toward children and give a good analogy on the scriptures. Last night, our verses were Romans 8:26-31 and then the story went something like this:

A little boy was upset and talking to his grandma about having to move away. He had hurt his leg and was wearing a brace and was worried that he wouldn't make new friends because of that. He asked his grandma why, if God loved him, he would have let him get hurt and also why he had to move away from his home and friends. The grandma's response really hit me - she told him that she was going to make him a cake, his favorite - Chocolate! She handed him the cocoa and told him to take a taste. He did, and he immediately started spitting and telling her how gross it was. Then she handed him the flour and asked if he wanted to try that, then the raw egg, then the shortening. All to which he said "NO"!

Here's her response to him on his reaction:

"You know, the Bible says all things work together for good in the life of a Christian. It doesn't say all things ARE good. Cocoa or a raw egg isn't good alone, but when I mix all the ingredients together, it's very good! So it is with life. When God gets through mixing a Christian's experiences together - the bitter, the sweet, the happy, the sad - life comes out good!"

WOW! Have you ever thought of it that way? How many times have I wished that I could change something, only to realize later that God had a plan in it all along? A plan to work all things together for my good. I loved that devotion - it taught me something and I pray it taught my girls something as well.

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

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