GOOD FROM BAD

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

God can be “funny” sometimes.

We quip and bandy about that “all things work for good” passage quite a bit.  In fact I have a couple of times recently in an OFH entry or two.

Why?

IT IS the GO TO passage when things are sideways. 

It is the GO TO when life is immersed in a particularly hard season.  

It is the GO TO when we don’t know what to go to.

And we know [with great confidence] that God [who is deeply concerned about us] causes all things to work together [as a plan] for good…Romans 8:28 (AMP)

We go to it because it says:

GOD CAUSES ALL things to work together as a plan it says.

ALL things for GOOD it says.

And just when I start doubting it, GOD gets “funny” again.

For yesterday I saw evidence of this truth once again.

I traveled to Johnstown to meet with a friend who I hadn’t seen for some time.  For the sake of complete transparency, she was someone who was a part of the dark time in my life a time where there wasn’t much GOOD going on.

But NOW there is some GOOD happening and since we had walked together through some “bad” for her (loss of a child, a career, almost her life to addiction) hearing a little of that “8:28 GOOD” was a welcomed conversation for sure!

And yet as we caught up, as we shared life’s experience, I was reminded of this verse not just for her, but for me as well. 

You see I have a relationship with this now 40-year-old mom of two because of my addiction both to alcohol and to the lifestyle that accompanied it.  And yet, it was what I “learned” from her in those dark and deeply sinful times that now has equipped me to do what I do for others and what I hope to continue to do for other women like her in the future.

That makes no sense but for GOD; no sense but for Romans 8:28.

I mean how in the world during a time when I couldn’t have been farther from the Lord literally drowning in sin and iniquity could anything redeeming result? 

But it has.

In fact, GOD again gave me yesterday the affirming WORDS she needed to hear regarding some current trials and suffering in her life; words that were needed to restore the hope that GOD still had for her! 

Makes no sense. 

A relationship that was birthed and nurtured by sin has now been re-birthed in light, possibility, hope and CHRIST.  And GOD used ALL of it, the entire journey, even the bad, for His good over an ice tea in the middle of Johnstown Ohio.

It is confounding.

But Rick Warren says it this way…

“God is an expert at bringing good out of bad.  God loves to turn crucifixions into resurrections.  The things you wish were most removed from your life are often the very things that God is using to shape you and make you into the believer of character He wants you to be.  He wants to use that for good in your life.

And that couldn’t have been more evident than yesterday as JT and I laughed and cried together, as we reminisced and regretted, realizing how grateful the two of us should be because GOD had chosen to bring the GOOD from both of our “bads” individually and collectively.

So, the thought today is simple.  

When things “are bad” try not to lose sight of the GOODNESS and PROVIDENCE of GOD.  

For what you are experiencing and the lessons you are learning that you would think would be most unlikely to advance His plan and purpose might just be some of the most important lessons you will ever learn.

So, trust me, the GOOD is in there.

GOD promised it.

I just saw it again.

It will show up.

Have a blessed day!

I love you all…

OPPORTUNITIES for HOPE