If there is one thing I have learned about hard times, it’s that God always makes something good of them. Always. Turn to God in pain, He creates a renewal. Turn to God in sin, He plants something beautiful. Turn to God in fear, He reveals a miraculous way. God will always tend the cracked, furrowed ground to bring a new harvest.
But what if I wanted last year’s bounty? What if I wanted peas and got cantaloupe? What if my garden is ravaged by locusts or burned in a fire just as I prepare to reap? Something will grow, something essential and perfect, when I look to God in my strife. When my focus is on Him and not on myself or others or stuff or my will, the life God has given me becomes abundant, blessed and balanced. It bursts with the fullness of Him, with ample room for more.
God allowed Satan to take everything from His good and blameless servant Job—his family, his health, his home and livestock. Job cried, The thing I feared has come upon me, what I dreaded has happened to me. Did God allow Job to be ravaged to give him an even greater faith? I don’t know the reason. Job continued to trust God through his agony and God restored Job with twice as much as he had before. I can appreciate and honor what God brings into my life because I know that He is omnipotent, omniscient and loving. God’s goodness is eternal and perfect.
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Meeting God at the Park 