Have you ever wondered how God could work all things together for good in your life? Maybe you’re in a situation that feels impossible, a marriage that is unraveling, a job environment that is unhealthy and all you can see is HARD.
In my Proverbs 31 Ministries devotion today, I share how I wrestled with this in the midst of very difficult circumstances during and after our daughter’s adoption, and the ways God showed me HOW He was working things for “good” in unexpected ways.
If you hopped over from my devotion, I’m so glad you stopped by! As promised, here are a few photos that tell part of the story of us bringing our beautiful girl home. {And there’s special giveaway at the end of this post.}
All I could see were the hard parts. Everything we would have to give up: sleep, money, comfort, familiarity, others’ approval. All the hard things we would have to navigate: huge expenses and significant changes.
What if our sons resented us for re-arranging their lives forever? What if our parents and extended family didn’t approve? What if we exhausted our time, emotions and money only to end up with broken hearts and an empty bank account? How could God work all that together for good?
I could not see how. I could only see “hard.” Yet we knew God was calling our family to adopt a severely malnourished baby girl from Ethiopia. And in October 2009 we brought Aster home.
Was it hard? Yes. Even more than I imagined.
But as I trace God’s hand over the past five years since we brought Aster home, I see Him working countless things {together} for good. Most of all, I see a handwritten love letter sent to our little girl from her Heavenly Father, written on every page of our adoption story.
I see God working the hard things together for good. Despite our inadequacy, sadness and fear of the unknown when Aster was diagnosed with a speech disorder, global developmental delays, low muscle tone and sensory processing disorder, I now see God working it all for good.
I see God working the overwhelming things together for good. A year of sleepless nights brought out servant-hearted compassion in our teenage sons when they saw their dad struggling with depression caused by sleep-deprivation. I’ll never forget the night they decided to take turns sleeping on a mattress in their sister’s room to relieve her anxiety and give us back our desperately needed sleep.
I see God working even the embarrassing things together for good. Like the day I had a meltdown in my car and a stranger tapped on my window to see if I was okay. And that same afternoon, I ran out of gas on my way to get my youngest son at basketball which mean my oldest son, who had a new cast on his broken foot, had to push our car off the road. I see awesome stories for them to tell their children about me one day.
When my reality doesn’t look or feel like “good” to me, I ask God to help me see how. How he is keeping his promise that “in all things [He] works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Roman 8:28).
What I’ve discovered is this: God is always working things together for good, but not just for our good. Sometimes we are part of His working things together for someone else’s good.
You see, I believe Jesus heard a mother in Africa praying for her baby. A mother who was living in the middle of “hard” like I’d never imagined. A mother who couldn’t see how she could give her little girl the nurture and nutrition she needed.
Hagere: Aster’s birth-mother feeding her during our visit.
And when God heard that mama’s prayers, He tapped on the heart of a family in North Carolina who loved Him and were called according to His purpose. I also believe God saw an orphanage in Ethiopia searching for a forever family to provide unconditional love and medical care for a 6-month old, 8 pound baby with pneumonia.
So Jesus went back to that family in North Carolina who had been asking God to reveal Himself to them and through them, knowing this little girl would be an answer to that prayer.
And that’s when God started working the hard, impossible, and overwhelming things {together} for good.
Is there a relationship or situation in your life where all you see is hard? Have you asked God how He can work some part of it together for good?
I don’t know about you, but some days I need a tangible reminder that He can. A visual that prompts me to pray and helps me remember how He does, like the beautiful bead necklace I’m wearing below made from repurposed bullets found in the rubble of Ethiopian soil.
Each time I look at it, I remember how God answered a desperate mother’s prayers for her baby and filled my family’s longing to experience more of Him. Only He could know how much we needed the gift of a little girl to light up our world, and to remind us that He indeed can work even the hardest things {together} for good.
ENTER TO WIN To celebrate how Jesus takes the hard and heart-breaking realities of life and works them together for good, Proverbs 31 Ministries is partnering with Fashion & Compassion to create a beautiful jewelry line from repurposed bullets found in the rubble of Ethiopian soil. “SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS” under this post and you’ll be entered to win.
The From Bullets to Blessings Collection is handcrafted from Ethiopian bullets, dug out of rubble, and assembled by vulnerable and rescued women throughout Mexico and Charlotte, NC. CLICK HERE to find out more about the collection and the women who create these pieces. It’s a beautiful picture of God working the hard things together for good in their lives through Fashion & Compassion.
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What a great reminder that no matter how bad things seem, God has a plan and he sees the big picture.
Your daughter is beautiful! As a mother of five, I can’t imagine having to give up a child. That is what unselfish love is all about. Exactly what Jesus did for us. My family is going through an extremely rough time right now, and I will admit, I haven’t exactly been strong enough to get through each day of it. However, I know in my heart that God will work all things together for good once we are through the storm. Thank you for sharing your story. It was very encouraging.
What a Blessing your family is for this beautiful child of God! Oftentimes God see the rainbow, when we only see the clouds……praise God for your willingness to be used by Him!
Thank you for sharing your story, your family, your love! May God continue to bless you and your family! The earrings are beautiful!
I read your story of Aster, then Tracie’s about how God uses our trials. II Cor. 1:3,4 has pretty much become ‘my’ life – mostly because of the deaths of family/friends. God doesn’t waste any of these experiences when we let Him wash His healing over us, trusting Him in the hard, and walking with Him, leaning on His strength, and He truly does work all things together for good, to those who are loved and called according to His purpose.
Thank u for sharing this. I have been through the hardest time of my life these past 10 months. My husband believes beyond a shadow of doubt that I have been having an affair and then believed I was trying. To make him believe that. I have been called and told things no woman should ever be told by the man they love. My flesh has wanted to quit numerous times! But I have found My God is faithful! Can’t go into all the details but the trial is still here I just have a different view! Spiritual eyes. I know that God will use all this hurt and pain for good one day. Thank u because this really ministered to me. Be blessed
I love our God! The Holy Spirit just brought this Scripture to me this morning before I read this. I’m currently watching a loved one going thru some hard stuff and they are in need of encouragement and this Scripture was the one that came to mind. Thank you for sharing your life story!
thanks for the reminder that it’s not always MY good that is the focus!
Blessing to you and your family for “hearing” the call. May your road become easier, but your hearts still fulfilled. May your testimony build character and obediance in my life and help me to “see” and “hear” my own calling.
Such a touching story of a child who needed stability and another family who felt led to adopt this child as their own. I am awed by your obedience to the Father and how all things worked together for good as Romans 8:28 says. May you be blessed in your journey as a family that honors God and brings a testimony of God’s love to those around you.
Beautiful! Love the part about things working out for good, just maybe not my personal good! New perspective on that verse.
Thank you! I needed to read this today, as we are in the process of being approved to be foster parents to a 15 year old girl, with much opposition from family. I don’t know how it is all going to work, but as you say, God does.
I feel kinda selfish for even posting this ( what I have been through is nothing compared to that mother giving up her baby.) but I recently saw God work something heartbreaking out for good. TWO STORIES to tell. I have a daughter who dropped out of high school right before turning 18 and disappeared I worried I cried I searched all to no avail, it was almost 3 years before she came home…. bringing with her a beautiful ( 5 mo). redhead little girl. My first grand baby and 3 grandchildren later still my only granddaughter. Laura Story’s Blessings is my song and my little Alana is worth every tear and every sleepless night. I have another daughter whom I loved her daddy very much. The night I told him I was pregnant was the night he walked out. He said he didn’t want another child ( he had three from a previous marriage) fast forward to this past Feb the 8th my daughter gave birth to my fourth grand child little Jayden Thomas, standing in my kitchen a couple of weeks back feeding him a chocolate chip cookie I realized every moment of pain going through my pregnancy with my child and birthing her alone raising her without her father…. all the pain turned to pure joy while feeding my little blessing Jayden that cookie.
Beautiful! Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for sharing how God worked in your family’s life to be open to the possibilities that God offers each of us. Aster is one of those special blessings that God had in mind for you and your family. It is never easy to open up and listen to what we are asked to do. Some days are just hard and this helps me to look for the good that can come in the midst of struggle.
Thank you for this post. I needed to hear this today.
I am struggling to see “all working for good” in the midst of my hurts. But I believe Him though I have not seen Him.
Thank you for sharing your struggles to encourage others. Blessings upon you.
Thank you for this beautiful testimony today. I was very touched by it. I find myself in “hard places” more than I care to be — often struggling with the “easy things” that I watch my friends sail right through, yet I find myself fighting the waves, changing current, and ebbs and tides of the situation. There are times when I simply wonder if the enemy has assigned an imp specifically to me to just make things hard. But I am always REASSURED that God has a plan and purpose for everything he allows us to endure. So, though I struggle … I also trust God. As my favorite scripture (Proverbs 3: 5-6) reminds me, I am to trust God, lean not to my understanding, acknowledge Him in everything, and He will direct my paths. So though I inwardly hope that things will become easier, I also know that God may allow the thorn in my side to remain by his permissive will to keep me depending on Him. I know that in my loving Father’s PERFECTNESS, He has ways that I don’t understand, resources that I don’t know of, and a supply of grace and mercy to see me through all my needs. With that, I won’t give up because I have an inexhaustible source of help.
May God continue to bless you and your lovely family. Praise God for your obedience concerning Aster despite the unknown “hard places” that came with your decision. I am grateful for your honesty … yes, Christians can face “hard places” in life. We are not exempt from that. Today’s devotional has truly been an inspiration for me!!!!!
Thank you for sharing your family’s story. There is such pain in the world. But if each of us does a little, together with Christ we can move mountains. Thank you for the opportunity to share this with my quilt group. I am responsible for devotions for our retreat this weekend and i know this will touch their hearts as it touched mine.
Thank you for sharing this post today. You have a beautiful family and I really love your blog.
Winners NEVER Quit . . . .Quitters Never win . . . .Thanks for allowing me to WIN!
Amen Jesus . . . .