This is not going to turn out well.

These thoughts often go through my head when things happen in my life that I don’t like, didn’t plan for and I know they are going to be difficult to deal with.

But I have learned, these events look very different when I look at them through a rear view mirror.   I realize that- every time- these tough experiences took me in a new direction where God wanted to bless me.  I’ve had several situations happen in my life which took years of work to maneuver through only to realize that God had a long line of blessings waiting for me on the other side.  I’m trusting God right now that the same thing will happen in relation to the death of my son.  Because of the great loss here on earth, I know there’s a good chance that I won’t realize those blessings until I’m sitting at the feet of my Father in heaven.  But it will happen.

I’m sure the new Christians in Acts thought that the wave of persecution which began after the Holy Spirit came to them was a very bad thing.  Christians were hunted down and killed by people like Saul whose name later changed to Paul.

The persecution separated the Christians and send them out through the regions of Judea and Samaria.

“But the believers who were scattered preached the Good News about Jesus wherever they went.”

Do you see what I see?  What Satan meant for evil, God used for good.  It’s certainly not the plan for evangelism that anyone would pick, but it worked.  People all over the country heard about the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ because of the growing hostility to Christians.

It didn’t look good, but God used it for good.

This is how I choose to look at tough situations in my life.   God can bring something good from it.

He always has.

He always will.

Thank you, Abba Father.