Happily Ever After

“But as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good”. (Genesis 50:20)

“And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance and perseverance proven character, and proven character, hope. And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5)

“Do not be anxious for anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
(Phil 4:6-7)

“And God causes all things to work out together for good, to those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.”
(Romans 8:28)

These are some of the most profound verses in the Bible, in my mind. This promise of God’s power over every circumstance in my life, no matter how dismal or impossible assures me that he can pull me out of a complicated jungle of foreboding problems and solve them for good as if they were a simple mathematical equation.

My only responsibility is to respond properly when these trials come. Scripture commands me, in light of His great power, to do the following things:

Trust Him

Joseph acknowledged that God had a purpose in his brothers’ betrayal and his separation from his family over the span of over a decade. He stands by comforting them as they beg his forgiveness. Our own response of confidence in God in the midst of unfair circumstances demonstrates trust in Him as well.

Love Him

The Lord promises the perfect ending to those who are devoted to Him, loving Him with heart, soul, strength, and mind. We read in other scriptures that if we love Him we keep His commandments. So we set our hearts to obey.


Pray to Him

When trials and testings and anxiety-generating events creep into our lives – and they will – God doesn’t call us merely to rejoice and rest. He wants us to gather it all up into words and lay it all at His feet. He says to “present” it to Him. What a gift, we think! But in the presenting, we express once again our trust, our love, our confidence in Him as a kind and benevolent Father, longing to give good gifts to His children.

Thank Him

By faith, we look at the situation and we speak aloud, “Thank you, Lord. I don’t know why, and You are not obligated to explain, but I know this is a gift from Your hand.”

Rejoice/Exult in Him

This is perhaps the hardest step in the whole process, because it goes over the top. We can exult in Him when our confidence in His power is so sure, we put our dancing shoes on at the first glimpse of trouble. God promises maturity to those who can see past the immediate events and look into the future hope which will be everything we could have imagined and more. As we look to what we gain through our losses in this life, seeing each of them from an eternal perspective, we are satisfied.

Willingness to Wear a New Set of Glasses

We’ve experienced several losses over the past couple of years. Loss of reputation, loss of a job, loss of a parent, loss of friends, loss of confidence, loss of abilities, loss of mental and physical health, loss of many things we held onto for temporal security. But as God was prying those things out of our hands, we failed to notice that He was merely taking them away that He might personally invest them in our maturity, something He values far more than our comfort here on earth.

Just this week He reminded me again that the mind of man plans his ways but the Lord directs his steps. Oh how good this is – to have a Father who re-plans my misdirected days that He might work real good out of my small ambitions!