Something Good.

He calls and I answer, thinking it is an emergency because we both know how much I enjoy talking on the phone.  He reassures me that everything is fine, that he was only completing my Selfless Sunday challenge and thought that it would be nice to catch up.  We speak for a few moments before his attention is required elsewhere and I wait patiently, phone held between ear and shoulder, as his muffled voice speaks to someone else.  

When he returns, he laughs a little and tells me that God is good.  He had called me from his car and was sitting in the parking lot of a store, waiting to go inside until our conversation was over.  A complete stranger was in need of a blessing and he just so happened to be at the right place at the right time.  "If I hadn't been talking to you, I would have already been in that store and I would have missed my opportunity to bless someone," he says.

I smile and jokingly respond, "Yay!  I was part of something good."

And bless his heart, my dear friend doesn't miss a beat before saying, "Courtney, you're always part of something good."

*************************************************************

That phrase hit me hard.  It has been wedged in my mind and heart for weeks now and I've been thinking it over, analyzing bits and pieces to see if it could possibly be true.

Romans 8:28 tells us that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to His purpose.  And if that is the case, then no matter how dark or gloomy our circumstances seem, God weaves our bad times together to ultimately create good.  

I know it doesn't seem that way now.  You're looking at your situation and thinking that there is no possible way any good could come from this.  Even though you know you shouldn't be, you are worried and stressed and afraid.  If God provides peace that passes all understanding, you would like to have some of that peace.  Please and thank you.  

I know you're exhausted, tired from trying to make ends meet or make life decisions with silence from the Throne.  You're on the verge of giving up, throwing your hands in the air and asking what the point is and how you missed the mark so badly.  How can you be part of something good right now when it seems that nothing around you is good?

I know the struggle.  I'm living it.  But I also know that this isn't the end.  And no matter how smart we are, we will never outsmart the Creator of our own heartbeats.  We see only a sliver of this short life, but He sees all of eternity.  He knows how the pieces fit.  He knows what is best.

So even in the midst of confusion and darkness, of stress and worry and pain, we can rest assured that we are always part of something good.  Because He is always making something good, for us and from us.