Faithful Fridays ~ That Little Bit of Good

Hi, everyone!  :)  Friday has come around again...time for Faithful Fridays!  :)

Faithful Fridays is a weekly linky party hosted on my blog.  I made it so that Christians could have one special day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their Christian walk on their blog.  If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post!  :)

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And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

-Romans 8:28

I have heard this verse for a long, long time.  And I guess it never really sank in because you're always kind of just sitting there going, "But....bad things happen to us sometimes."

But recently I've been using the "pronunciation method" to meditate on Bible scriptures.  I love it.  You take a verse, such as Romans 8:28, and you say the verse over and over, emphasizing a different word or phrase each time.  It brings such new meaning to verses I've heard all my life.  It's like squeezing all the juice out of a lemon.  :)  

Here's what I mean:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

(We're sure of this.  We know it!)

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

(In ALL things.  From glorious missionary stories and nearly perfect circumstances to storm clouds and cancer and doors being shut in our face, God is working all these things out for GOOD.)

Via Pinterest

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 

(God works for us!  He works for our good!  He's working to turn even our mistakes and sins into good for His glory.)

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.  

(For the good, and only the good.  God is using even the circumstances that seem bad to us to achieve great things.  Our struggles can bring others hope and encouragement and inspiration and make us stronger!)

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

(All of this is for those who love God.  That's important!)

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

(God has called us, so He will take care of us and lead us and guide us in His will.)

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

(God has called us.  He has a purpose for every single thing that happens to us.  Whether it be something small like passing a homeless woman on the side of the road, or something that may hurt like having a sickness or having a [metaphorical] door slammed in your face, it's all fitting into a pattern for good set up by God.)

See what I mean?  :)  I love doing this.  It's so beneficial and can teach us so much that we never grasped before.

So after examining this verse and reading things and hearing things and just having God impress stuff upon my heart (I love it when He does that), I've begun to feel that it's so important to put a big emphasis in my life on finding the good, finding the best, in every person and thing and situation; finding the "silver lining to every cloud."  

And that's so hard sometimes.  Believe me, I know.  I say all this now, but it can be pretty hard to really believe when I'm lying on a hospital bed, practically writhing in pain, thinking of all the activities and things I'm missing.

Yeah.  Stuff stinks sometimes!  And God doesn't like that.  But if we humans hadn't sinned in the first place, we wouldn't be separated from God and we wouldn't have all these problems!  God uses trials to bring us closer to Him and make us stronger, but if sin hadn't separated us from Him, we wouldn't need to be strengthened because we would walk with Him all the time!

Sorry, I know that's a lot to take in.  :)  

But God has just really been teaching me stuff lately.  I love it.  I just hope I can stand by it and remember it and wholeheartedly believe it when I'm having a struggle.

I guess my point is that people ask all the time why "a loving God allows bad things to happen."  Some people even conclude that God couldn't be loving!

And here's my answer to that.  

A) If Adam hadn't sinned and we hadn't sinned ourselves, this would be a perfect world and there would be no punishment or any reason for God to strengthen us in Him through trials.  Anything bad is really our fault.

B) Because we're separated from God by sin, God uses our trials to strengthen us and build us up in Him and bring us closer to Him.  

C) God has (and really IS) the most amazing, deep, unconditional love ever known to anyone, ever!  

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along will him, graciously give us all things?

-Romans 8:32

I think that verse just says it all.  

One last thought before I go.  I watched a movie the other day called "A Greater Yes: The Story of Amy Newhouse."  It's based on the true story of a girl named Amy.  Amy was on fire for God.  She was pretty close to being the "perfect" Christian.  She was planning on doing great things for God and being a full-time missionary.  

And then she got cancer.  And everything changed.  

Amy was in the hospital a lot.  She had to undergo chemotherapy and she lost her hair.  But her whole town was praying for her, and people in towns all across her state, and, I'm sure, even across the rest of the country!  People were praying so hard for her.  And she got better!  And that strengthened people in the faith.

But then Amy relapsed back into cancer.  And everyone else lost hope.  Everyone that had prayed faithfully for her before, everyone who had hoped and waited and been so uplifting and encouraging really just left Amy.  

But through everything, from start to finish, Amy never gave up hope.  She was faithful.  She was prayerful.  She was encouraging and inspiring and probably a bit perplexing to everyone around her.

But that's the point!  Even her worst "misfortunes" and "horrible catastrophes" were fit into a pattern for good.  It was not in vain at all!  Amy grew closer to her Savior, others came and grew closer to Him, and people were encouraged and inspired beyond belief!

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I know today's post was a bit long.  I'm sorry about that.  :)  I just had a lot to get out!  

God bless you guys and have a great weekend!  

Joy :)