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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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