Look for the good

As a little girl, I loved fairy-tales.  I always loved stories that had happy endings. However, real life is not a “happily every after” fairy-tale existence.

Christians will live happily ever after when we are taken to our heavenly home, but in the meantime we face various struggles.  We see and hear of these struggles every day... in the world, in our nation and here at home. It seems our prayer lists grow longer and longer.

It is easy to become discouraged after a steady diet of bad news in the media,  along with our own struggles. I realize we have to watch, listen and read the news to be informed citizens, but there comes a time when we just want to hear some good news .  That is the time we should turn away from the ever changing bad news to the rock solid GOOD NEWS......The Bible!    Romans 8:28 encourages us with these words: “We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose”.   This scripture, in no way, denies the heartbreaks and sufferings we go through in life. 

It just tells us that if we are believers, and we do trust and love God, he can work through us to bring good in every situation.

A good example of this is the story of a dear widow friend. She was to have knee surgery. Two weeks before the surgery she fell and injured her arm . Together with her painful knee, it made it  difficult for her to get around.Then the April snow storms came, making it impossible for her  to get to her pre-op appointments.  Finally , the day before her surgery a helpful friend was able to shovel through the snow to get her to the necessary pre-op appointment.  Even tho she knew the moisture was a blessing for the farmers, the snow had been a big problem for her. 

Finally, all was in readiness for her surgery and her son arrived from out of town. She had been a little uneasy about the fact that he couldn’t stay more than one day due to a previous commitment. When I went to visit her the day after her surgery, I was expecting to see a sad lady, knowing her son had to leave.  Instead,I was met with a happy smile!  Because of the snow storm, her son was released from his commitment to teach a seminar. The seminar had been canceled and he was able to spend an extended time with his mother.  Good had come from those snow storms!

My friend’s  response was one of gratefulness and of wanting to share her story of how God had worked in his mysterious ways to keep her son by her side.  Most of all she wanted to remind others  that God can bring good  from the storms in our lives, also.  With God all things are possible.      We all need to look for the good that God brings into our struggling lives, no matter how big or how small the battle.  The results won’t  be a “happyily ever after” fairy-tale ending.  No, the results will be knowing that God is sovereign and we can trust in his goodness and mercy forever!