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.
What an amazing, uplifting story of God’s love and grace! An awesome example of true Christianity in a broken world.
Your story really touched home with me. My husband and I have 3 biological children who are 20, 19, and 16 and a foster daughter we are in the process of adopting. She was placed with us when she was 5 months old. We were told she could possibly have Cerebral Palsy as well as many other issues. We felt like God put her in our home for a reason. She just turned 4 years old last week. She does not have Cerebral Palsy, however, she does have seizures, sensory processing disorder, and significant delays. Sometimes it seems so overwhelming and I wonder what we’ve gotten ourselves into. I wonder what others may think of us starting all over again with a little one with so many problems. Then I remember, this is what God calls us to do, to take care of the widows and orphans. She is a beautiful little girl with an adorable smile that melts my heart. It’s going to be a long hard road and we don’t know that she’ll ever be able to live on her own or have her own family, but it’s worth every bit of the journey. Thank you so much for sharing your story and reminding me that this is all in His hands.
This story was absolutely beautiful! What an inspirational story and a lesson to anyone struggling through the hard times and wondering and asking God, where is the good in all this? My husband and I have been trying to get pregnant for awhile and when we found out we were pregnant on July 4th of this year, we couldn’t have been happier! Then at about 8 weeks in, I started to have some spotting but no cramps and my nurse assured me this was normal. When I woke up the next morning and saw the bright red blood, I knew something was wrong. So with a heavy heart and tears streaming down my face, I had an ultrasound and found out their was no heartbeat and we had lost our second angel in a years span and haven’t been able to get pregnant ever since. We have talked about adopting a child like Aster who needs a good family to raise her and take of her or him. Then, we found out on Monday that my boss has secretly hired someone to take my place and she will finish training at our other location tomorrow and we know the boss will be in tomorrow when his clinic closes after lunch to let me go. Not only our we struggling with the fact that no one including the doctor I work under has any idea why I am being let go and we can’t ask yet because the people in the office training her we’re all told they would lose their jobs if anyone told me or the doctor I work under, we are now struggling with the facts of being in the middle of moving into a new house and those expenses and wondering if we will ever be able to even adopt now living off of one income! So this story was truly a blessing to me and I am happy to hear that in God’s time and in His Will for our lives, we are going to make it through all this. Please pray for me and my husband as I know the power of prayers in numbers and thank you for this story!
Some hard things just seemed to get a whole lot harder today. While my emotions didn’t want to read this today, my heart was drawn to the words. Thank you for sharing.
Wow.!! You and your family are amazing. I wish for myself and our world to be soo selfless. As hard a decision it was, you listen to The Lord and followed where He led you. What a blessing and inspiration you are to all your followers. Thank you for the story.
What a beautiful story! I so needed this devotion and to read your story today! Thank you for allowing God to use you in the ways that He is!! Please pray for me that I, too, can find that purpose or direction for my life – be it hard or not easy to understand…
Thank you for sharing this beautiful story! We hope God lets us adopt someday.
God wanted me to read this today. My husband and I have Guardianship of our three year old grandson who has mild Autismwith a severe speech delay. We are 61 years old, so the beginning of our “Golden Years” is not how we expected life to be. We also had to uproot and move to Phoenix from Utah so I don’t have much of a support system in place.
Today has been an especially difficult morning as Gibson has had several meltdowns and I am feeling very inadequate in oh so many ways. It is picture day at his special needs pre-school and he refused to take a bath. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t get him in the tub. After calling out to Jesus many times, I felt like he was telling me just to let him get dressed and to pick my battles. He may not have the nicest looking hair, but the picture will reflect where he is in his young life.
Our blessing, however, is to have this (usually) sweet boy with us. My daughter is a heroin addict, so God allowed us to take him out of a situation where he was not safe.
I cried many tears this morning asking for the strength to make it through. Gibson has settled down and in a few minutes we will go wait for the bus. Another morning successfully completed by the grace of God. I thank him for his new mercies every morning!
I enjoy everything you write but this was especially moved by this beautiful story of live and compassion and God’s ability to lead us and then sustain us in all situations!! Thanks for sharing! Love the jewelery and it’s significance! A perfect example of how God can turn bad into beautiful!
Thank you so much for this testimony. I feel God speaking to me this morning through this as I surely needed. Our lives right now an for the pa St year have been filled with so many “hard” things it becomes so overwhelming an Satan tries so hard to get us down. Seeing how good could come out of our life situation seems almost hopeless. I know if God can an does do “good” for that mother in Africa all the way to NC. Then he can surely turn “good” in our lives. Thank you so much for this today.it is just what I needed to be reminded of.
Your story reveals the very essence of hope! Hope in Christ Jesus!
That’s a beautiful story…. It’s a very encouraging story.
Dear Renee,
Such a wonderful life story that you shared! Do you know whatever happened to Aster’s birth mother?
I cannot even imagine what her ‘hard’ has looked like. But it is a wonderful story of how God connected the both of you together!
Thank you for all you do!
Michelle
Thank you for sharing this part of your life. A good reminder that it isn’t “all about me”… what an honor when God uses us to work things out for the good for others!
What a beautiful description of adoption and the love of Christ as He works to mesh our lives together in ways we cannot even fathom…which is why His timing is perfect. It’s NOT all about us, but the many others whose lives interconnect with ours and as we trust, the Lord blesses in the ways of His which are higher and better than anything we could come up with! Thank you for sharing your testimony!
What a beautiful testimony of God’s promises to us! Thank you for sharing.
Dear Renee, Thanks for sharing another part of your world with us. Your story has provided me with food for thought. I thank God for my beautiful sisters in Christ.
I loved this devotional. I am a missionary with SIM in Guinea, West Africa. Due to ebola I am not able to return there at this time. It has been hard but just the reminder of knowing that God will work it out and it will be good has been an encouragement to me. Thanks for sharing your heart with us!
Such a wonderful devotion today! Thank you for this reminder not to get caught up in my “hard” and to trust that God has a plan – my hard is just a puzzle piece in a much bigger picture. Thank you!
Thank you for tracing back how you see God has worked through the hard parts. Its very encouraging to see how God raised people up to help you through the difficult days. We serve a wonderful God that I am looking to in order to get through the hard spots.
What an awesome story! Love sees no color or impossible challenges. So heart-warming and beautiful.
Thank you for your inspiring devotional today. I helps to remind me that there is good in the hard times we are going through right now and God is working it out for our good…
Thank you so much for sharing your inspiring story. Inspiring because we all see God working in your lives through your best times and worst times! It takes great love and faith to answer God’s call in this way. You are just like many of us and it inspires me to see God working in your lives. Thank you and many blessings to your family!
It was a blessing reading this today! Seeing the pictures of all of y’all made it even better! I can’t imagine the pain the birth mom had giving up her beautiful daughter or the relief she must have felt knowing how much better off her daughter is now!? Thanks for sharing this today! I too want God to show me how I can be a part of His good for others!!
This is a touching story. I am dealing with some hard times right now. I am believing that Gd’s hand is in it. However, I am tired and praying for relief. This story was very timely. Thank you Lord for sending this message to encourage me. May The Lord continue to strengthen you as you are doing the work of His hands.
Thank you for sharing this. Just yesterday I was “sharing/moaning” about the hard to a friend, she shared this exact verse. I too think the Lord is leading us to adopt, a sibling group of 3, but the Lord is still working on my husband’s heart, and like you there is so much else, family, finances, bio children, seemingly everything seems impossible but yet the leading will not leave. I was getting so discouraged, it’s been ongoing for almost 3 years. I so needed this reminder, it is so wonderful of God to send me these to help me. It gets so discouraging when you are surrounded by most telling you how whacked you are in your thinking. Though I know it is their thinking that is out of line with God’s. Again, thank you for sharing and being faithful.
Thank you Renee. A heart opening piece that just moved me from the place of hard to the grace place concerning a friendship one will rather do away with in the natural but I know God would rather work with Him in that life for all things to work together for good. My resolve is to call her immediately I done with this. It’s been a while I spoke with her because I was tired of her constant complains & endless negativities. Guess I have to leave my comfort zone to be God’s hands & legs to rescue her. Ultimately her family will be better off with a joyful mum & will be a vessel of honour to our Heavenly Father. Hmmmm, what a lovely family you have. The transformation of Aster is beyond expression. May God Almighty remain the Shield, Glory & Lifter of your family both now & forever. Amen.
Wow – what a beautiful story. The reality is that life is often hard, filled with challenges. But God takes us by the hand and gives us what we need – helping us along the way. Thank you for sharing God’s answer to your prayer – to reveal Himself to you and through you. Thanking God for opening your eyes, little by little, to see how He was (and continues) to answer your prayer.
What a moving story and enjoyed the pictures! Convicting about how God may use me for the good of others, not just me. Maybe our daughter’s longterm health issues will be for someone else’s good.
Thank you very mcuh.
Amazing story of how God works even though we may not see him. We adopted my brother Jericho when he was a baby, I am now 15 and he is 12. I can’t wait to see how God works out the quarrels of siblings to his good. Please pray that we may love him as much as God has loved us
Thanks for sharing your story so intimately. We also felt called to adopt and had to move past many fears. Our family traveled to Korea for our son and discovered that besides a cleft lip and palate which we knew about, he also was delayed, had low muscle tone, sensory issues and quite a temper. It has definitely been a journey with multiple surgeries, therapies and a huge financial commitment, but God has met our needs and our little boy is doing very well. He still has behavioral issues, but it was so awesome to see him running up the field playing flag football a few weeks ago – my little boy who needed some much therapy and time to learn how to sit and crawl and take those first few steps – wow. Would life have been easier if we didn’t adopt? Maybe I would have a few more “things” in my house, but I wouldn’t have my youngest son and I can’t imagine our family without him. That sounds really noble, but there are still plenty of opportunities to develop my patience on a daily basis!
Renee, what a beautiful blessing your words are to those out here in cyberspace! The story of your family is inspiring, thank you for sharing.
Todays devotion was the encouragement I needed today! And isn’t that just like God, to give us what we need, when we need it? Thanks for correcting my path as I struggle with a difficult relationship caring for an aging in-law.
I can so resonate with your story, being an adoptive mom of 2 international children with 3 biological children as well. God birthed this journey in our hearts and we stepped out in faith in spite of our fears. We have seen God mold and shape each member of our family along this journey, especially during the challenging times. He has shown us what unconditional love REALLY means. And He does work everything out for our good – not necessarily how we want it. Since the adoptions we have also fostered around 22 children, another huge step of faith and relying completely on God with each child and situation that entered our family dynamic. Thank-you God for this journey, for the growth opportunities, for molding and shaping us to become more like you and for loving us through each of these children.
Thank you for allowing the Lord to work through you and your family. May He continue to bless you and yours.
WOW – what an amazing testamony!!! Talk about walking in the faith. She is such an adorable Little girl and both she and your family have been truly blessed by each other. God is so awesome and continues to work everyday in our lives. Praise the Lord.
What a beautiful story! Thank you for sharing!
I enjoy reading all the devotions on the Proverbs 31 ministries website, but this one in particular touched my heart in a special way. I often tend to “selectively” recall the verse where God will work everything out for MY good because I love Him. I have never approached that verse from the perspective of another who loves God as well, or considered the possibility that I may be the vehicle He uses to bless someone besides me! Thank you for the blessing you provided today, and keep up the amazing work!
It’s amazing how our Heavenly Father does it. I’m just without words when it comes to describing His answers to the “how”? of that verse. I still don’t know exactly how he did it when “fixing” the giant in my life (and honestly I know He’s still at work). Your story is inspiring and motivates me to want to give back in response to the outpouring of love God shares on a daily basis.
Thanks for sharing the hard parts of your adoption. As others have commented here, I too see the picture of the mama and her baby and can’t help but cry. It’s unimaginable to me, having to give up my child because I couldn’t provide for her. A mother’s love…
I am so inspired by your story and I can completely identify with the struggles. Although I did not adopt my oldest daughter, Katie, I did have her at 16 in the middle of my sophomore year of high school. At 1 month old Katie developed severe colic and every night from 12am-3:45 am she cried and squirmed in pain.
God knew the bond this would build between a 16 year old new mom and her little girl. There were no lines blurred. I was not her friend and we were not “growing up together”. I was her momma just like you are Asters.
As my husband and I now have four children (Katie 21, Brady 13, Kendal 9, Izzy 7) we are embarking on a season of missions both local and foreign. We pray constantly for God to reveal himself to us and guide our path.
Thank you for your transparency and the gift to show others that God is in the hard places too.
Thank you, Renee, for sharing your story and pictures of your lovely family. What a tangible reminder that even in the hard times, we have an amazing Father who is trustworthy and has a good plan for our lives.
Absolutely beautiful story. Thank you for sharing and giving me the reminder I so desperately needed today.
Renee, this is so timely! We only found out last night that our adoption agency is closing down the Ethiopia program (except for extreme special needs). My husband and I have been waiting for almost 2 years for a referral, and now our lives are turned upside down, and we have no idea what our next steps are! I know God is GOOD and has a plan, but I am wondering what that plan is. We need some very clear direction/guidance from HIM right now! Thanks for your ministry!
I am so moved by this devotion. For years my husband and I have wrestled with the thought of adopting and I too wondered how we would survive and make it and adopt too. I was diagnosed at 29 with endometriosis and I and my husband struggled for years to endure tests, surgeries and much much prayer for a biological child that was not meant to be. Reading this today has given me hope that God will create good out of desperate and disheartening times.We would like to adopt from Ethiopia if possible, but funds are extremely limited and we are African American. Thank you for inspiring me… I will talk and pray again with my husband on adopting.
Hard places, hard thoughts, hard hearts, hard…… God is working in all of these. I want Him to soften my hard edges to be a more loving person. He has already replaced my hard thinking with scripture and songs of praise. Only he could wake me with a song in my mind!
Thank you for sharing your incredible story of how God worked in your life.
What a precious family ~ Aster is such a sweet picture of redemption and joy through obedience. As I tell my adopted son, you were the missing piece of our puzzle. God knew we’d only be complete with you as a beloved part of our family!
Thank you for sharing this beautiful inspiring story!! Such a great reminder of God’s great love and power!! Praying for you and your family.
I am trying to hold back the tears as I read your journey, even though I am slightly familiar with it. Thank you for your honesty about the difficulties of adoption, but also your faithfulness to be obedient to God’s calling on your life. You are proof that obedience is not always easy!!!! I would love these earings as a reminder to not be afraid to do hard because if I do not persevere, I will for sure miss out on amazing blessings God has in store for me:) Thank you for sharing the pictures!!