God's Calling For Your Life

Our church is in a sermon series called “Don’t waste your 2014. Pastor Sammy Adebiyi gave a stirring sermon (listen here- "Invest" January 26, 2014) which centered on Ephesians 2:10:

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

He reminded us that God created each of us with a purpose. Our life is no mistake. We have been placed at this place, and this time, with these circumstances, and with these people for a reason. That reason is that we have a job to do and God invites us to participate in his mission to love others and tell others about how much the God of the Universe loves them.

Sometimes this work is painful and difficult. Pastor Saeed Abedini, an American citizen, has been tortured in horrendous Iranian prisons since the summer of 2012 simply for being a Christian (to read more about Pastor Saeed, or to sign a petition asking for his clemency, click here). As far as the apostles in the Bible who witnessed the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, all but one is believed to have died as martyrs by beheading, stoning, crucifixion, stabbing, burning, etc.  Blessed to live in a country that allows freedom of religion and speech, we are unlikely to be martyred. However, our work can be wrought with pain and difficulty as we speak opinions and make choices that are not in line with the world or as we pour our lives into relationships that cause hurt.

Sometimes, however, the work is full of joy and blessing. I am continually reminded of this through my involvement with Young Life, a ministry that uses volunteer leaders (mostly college age) to reach out to high school students and introduce them to a God who loves them unconditionally. This ministry is so dear to me because it is how God chose to finally reach my own heart and it has introduced me to my husband and many of my closest friends. Now, George and I serve on the Adult Committee in West Toledo, supporting the staff and the volunteer leaders. Saturday we were fortunate to be able to attend a Young Life conference. In the afternoon we sat in a room with many other adult committee members from the North Coast region. Even as we discussed challenges to the ministry, we were able to laugh and fellowship with each other because this work is fun and meaningful and useful.

We also we able to hear from Jerry Leachman, a former NFL player and current spiritual counselor to many politicians and influential people in Washington, DC. He discussed an idea called “The Way of the Path.” This biblically supported concept states that we are all on a path and that path determines where our lives will end up. If we are unwilling to do the work that we have been called and commanded to do by God at this point in our lives, we find ourselves on a path that if not corrected, will not lead to the words “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Mt 25:21). The decision to not spend time today praying to God and reading His Word will not lead to closer relationship with him. The decision to not reach out to others in need will not likely lead to a life marked by unconditional love. The decision to not share God’s love and redemption with those around you, will not likely lead to a heavenly eternity surrounded by those unbelieving loved ones—at least not because of anything you’ve done.

We can spend today, this month, this year, or our entire lives doing work that we have designed for ourselves to do and it might lead to a good end—a good retirement, a few decades of compliments on our gardens, our medals, or our physical beauty, a beautiful casket, a lot of people at our funeral. Or we can spend today, this month, this year or our entire lives doing work that leads to eternal rewards.

You’ve come to a crossroads on your path. Which path will you take? Which destination do you seek? What is your first step on that path? Perhaps you have never put much thought into your own relationship with God and your first step is to open the bible that you got when you were 8. I suggest Matthew, chapter 1, or my favorite bible story 2 Chronicles 20:1-30 . Perhaps you need to invest more time in your children, starting with playing a game with them today. Perhaps you should make that phone call you have been meaning to make, or start that application, or write that first blog post.  Perhaps you need to take an hour today and just pray and ask that God would make clear what work he has for you or what path you should take.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

The Thing About Washing Feet...

 

Two weeks ago, my pastor, Ryan Snow, gave a great sermon (Listen here) about how Jesus washed his disciples’ feet in John 13. The basic idea is that aside from spending time with God, the most important thing we can do is love the people God has placed in our lives the same way that he has loved us. He cites the story from the day before Jesus was arrested where Jesus, in spite of being God in flesh, in authority over all people, stooped down to wash his disciples’ dirty feet as an act of love.

It got me thinking why people, including me, don’t often “wash people’s feet” or love people the way we should.  I love that God used this metaphorical image to show us what loving people should look like. Jesus could have sewn blankets for his friends, or performed a one act play for their enjoyment, or asked people if they wanted more bread. No, he chose a very humbling act meant for the lowliest servant dealing with one of the grossest, stinkiest parts of the body.  Feet, on their own are gross. However, back in those days, it was even worse. People wore sandals and most people walked everywhere they went on dirt roads. Because their feet would get so dirty, they would have servants wash their feet before they entered into someone’s home. Which brings me to the first thing about washing feet, or loving people how Jesus loves us.

The Thing Is…It is Dirty

Let’s be honest; washing feet is a gross job. My children love to run barefoot in my backyard in the summer and they seem to forget that we have dogs who have to go to the bathroom out there. A couple times a summer, one of them comes hopping to the door on one leg with a disgusted look on their face and they say “I stepped in it.” I have to steel up my stomach and carry them to the sink or hose and scrub their feet, which means using my clean hands to rub the poop off on their skin until their skin is clean again. Afterwards I scour my hands with soap and hot water because I feel dirty. When we clean someone else, we often get dirt splashed on us.

When we love someone, often times it “dirties” our lives.  It may cause us pain or heartache as we allow compassion and empathy to invade us. Loving someone makes you vulnerable to feeling pain that you otherwise would have avoided. Jesus loved Lazarus so much that when he died, Jesus wept. He may also have been crying because he saw the pain and sadness in Lazarus’ sisters, Mary and Martha, and he felt compassion for them. One example of someone who has loved me, even when it is difficult is my best friend, Lindsey. As I lay alone in the emergency room in 2003, miscarrying my first baby, I couldn’t talk to anyone in my sorrow. I did, however, listen to a voicemail that Lindsey left after hearing the news from my husband. She was sobbing so hard she could hardly speak, because she knew the pain I was feeling and she felt it too.

Loving someone may also require sacrificing our money or our free time or our schedules. That same night, my parents and my sister, Kim drove the two and a half hours to see me at the hospital. I never even saw Kim because I had been in surgery and recovery and eventually she had to get back to her young children, but she had sacrificed gas money, sleep, and time with her family just so I would know she cared. This past year, two of my closest friends, Mandy and Nikki, moved far away. I was devastated for many reasons. One reason was because they were the two of the women I could count on to help me out no matter what. If I needed babysitting, a girls’ night, an ear to listen, someone to pray for me, they were there and it didn’t matter what else they had on their plate. Too many times, all the stars have to align just right for us to be willing to love someone, and that is not how God commanded us to love.

 Loving someone may cause us stress because we may begin to worry about the person’s situation, ruining our peace of mind. One of my favorite quotes is “Choosing to have a child is choosing to have your heart walking around outside of your body.” If you like having a carefree, peaceful life, do not have a child because your love for them at times may “dirty” you with fear, worry, doubt, guilt, anger, sadness, compassion, and anguish. As far as I know, this doesn’t go away. I’m turning 34 and I’m still very aware of the trauma I cause my mother. In fact, it has only gotten worse because now she has four grandchildren through me that she must fret over.

Loving children, our own flesh and blood is natural and it is expected. Loving others doesn’t always quite come so naturally.

The Thing Is…You Might Look Weird Doing It

I saw a picture on Pinterest of a young Christian couple on their wedding day. The groom was symbolically washing his bride’s feet. The idea is sweet, but I can’t even imagine what some of those guests were thinking! Sometimes the Holy Spirit leads us to love someone in a way that will look crazy to everyone else. (Listen here to my favorite Beth Moore story to hear about how she loved someone in a really weird way.)

Sometimes when we love someone publicly, we are praised for it. Other times we are mocked or criticized for it. For example, when a public official is caught having an affair and during the news conference, his humiliated wife stands right by his side holding his hand. People are outraged. “How could you still love him after what he has done?!” I felt this during a recent road trip. As I stood in the gas station, I saw through the window as a man walked up my husband and asked him for a handout. As my husband handed him money, I wanted to say “Don’t give him money…you don’t know what he will use it for!” What I may as well have said was “Don’t show him love…you don’t know if he is deserving of it!” Ouch, right?

And that is what it comes down to. Some people are easy to love. In the eyes of our world, they are deserving of our love. This may include the young child with cancer, the recently widowed mother of young children, the parent who has always been there or the neighbor who always waves hello. Some people are not easy to love. They don’t deserve it, we tell ourselves.

Several years ago a friend of mine chose to forgive her husband after he had caused her pain. As she told me, she was almost apologetic, fearing that I would disapprove of her loving him in that way. Isn’t it sad that this is what we must face from our fellow Christians when we choose to love some people? Jesus must have felt this sadness when people criticized him for spending time with the prostitutes, lepers, and tax collectors. But these were the people in the gospel that were most receptive to Christ’s love.

The Thing Is…Sometimes People Don’t Want to Get their Feet Washed

Sometimes we don’t want to accept the love that someone is offering us. Some people would rather starve to death rather than accept a handout. Some feel unworthy of love because of their past. Some people do not trust your motives. Some people don’t want to accept love because they fear it will change them or their circumstances. This is the case oftentimes with victims of sex trafficking. Someone lovingly wants to help rescue them from their captors but they don’t want to be rescued because they don’t know there is something better for them.

The Thing Is…We Need to Love Without Selfish Motives

We must love with a pure motive. Jesus did not wash his friends’ feet because he didn’t want them to stain his favorite rug.  Have you ever caught yourself doing an act of love for someone simply because it would make your life easier? When I was 19 years old, there was a person who was deeply depressed and lonely who kept reaching out to me. I would hang out with this person, not because I cared for him, but I was afraid he would hurt himself if I didn’t and I didn’t want the guilt that would follow. Interestingly enough, that motive caused a lot of guilt in my heart. I showed love to him, but purely for self-centered reasons. Have you ever tried to counsel someone because you had been listening to their problem for so long that you were sick of hearing it? Have you ever helped someone because you knew that person or others would think better of you for it? Have you done a favor for someone in hopes that they would return it someday? Or worse, have you loved someone abundantly in order to keep them indebted to you?

The Thing Is…Sometimes We Just Don’t Want to Love

Perhaps you are always the giver and servant and the favor is never returned. Perhaps in your marriage you have loved and forgiven, loved and forgiven more times than you can count and you are tired of it. Perhaps you don’t like the person God has placed right in front of you. This is all very familiar to me. I  am one of the most easily discouraged people in relationships. About once a month I start daydreaming about moving to the middle of nowhere where I can live in peace without the call to love people who don’t love me back. And then God tells me to act like a big girl and get back to following his command. As a disciple of Christ, we are to be obedient to his commands even when we don’t feel like it.

Perhaps God is not calling you to actually wash someone’s feet in the literal sense, but who does he want you to love just as Christ loved his disciples that day, just as Christ loves you now? What “thing” has been holding you back from loving those around you?

Why Jesus is Not the Reason for the Season

We’ve seen the saying “Jesus is the Reason for the Season” on wallhangings, yard decorations, Christmas cards, and tshirts. It is a well-meaning Christian’s way of trying to remind us that this time of year is not about presents, egg nog, big screen tvs, or Santa Claus. But the fact is, the cliché just isn’t true.

The real reason for the season? You. The first Christmas when baby Jesus lay in the manger, and every Christmas since, has been for you—Even if no one else in the world existed. You are God’s reason. Love is God’s motivation. Jesus was God’s perfect and only means to a glorious end.

Okay, well maybe it is just semantics but hear me out. This may take a few minutes so grab a cup of coffee and get comfortable. You want, you NEED to hear this.

It has been described as the greatest love story ever told. One you’ve heard in bestselling novels, watched on the movie screen, imagined in your daydreams as a teenager.

A boy and girl love each other deeply, but the girl wants to know what is out there, so she ventures out to discover herself, claim her independence, and make a life of her own.  And the boy lets her go but he loves her still, unconditionally, unrelentingly,  waiting for her to notice that his love is what is missing from her perfect or not so perfect new life.   And at the end of the story, at the perfect time, he makes a grand gesture of his love and she realizes that the only life she wants to live is one with him by her side.

The reason this touches our hearts is because somewhere deep inside we know this is our story. We are the girl and God is the boy. Throughout all of history, humankind has sought to discover herself, prove she can make it on her own. And God has let us venture out in the spirit of free will; love is not true love if it is forced.  Every person to ever live has done this including me and including you. But he loves you still, unconditionally, unrelentingly, waiting for you to notice that His love is what is missing from your perfect or not so perfect life.

Rather than running through an airport to stop your flight, rather than standing on a lunch table to serenade you, rather than driving across the country to stop your wedding to Mr. Wrong, God sent Jesus as his grand gesture of His love.

He didn’t come to prove He was the greater than any other god. If no one believed God was glorious, he would be glorious still. God does not need our approval or our praise to be Him. He is. He was. He always will be, in spite of us humans. Instead, he came because he loves you and wants you to know the joy and peace and love that he designed you to feel.

He didn’t come in full strength and stature with an army behind him ready to kill all the bad guys. Instead, he came as a fragile, innocent baby, born to a poor teenage girl in the presence of farm animals.

His life was not easy. Not the life of a king. Not the life of a god. Not the life of one whose birth would alter history’s keeping of time.  He lived in hiding the first part of his life because of King Herod’s decree to murder all the boys his age, in an attempt to stifle the prophecy of a newborn king,

Prior to his 30^th birthday, he was a lowly carpenter without riches, without fame. He bore witness to the pain of those all around him. After three years of ministry, he himself endured heartache, grief, disappointment, loneliness, humiliation, false accusations, betrayal, suffering, torture, and even separation from God, his father as evidenced when he cries out on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?!” Why did he do all this? Because of His great love for you.

Satan himself bombarded him with the greatest temptation known to man. Yet he stood firm. Why? Because of His great love for you.

Yes, 33 years after that first Christmas morning, he was mutilated and tortured before being killed on the cross. The son of God, who could have called on heaven’s entire army of angels to come down and save him, didn’t. He could have simply ascended into heaven and out of the reach of those who beat him and spit on him and mocked him.  He didn’t. Why? Because of His great love for you.

His love is unlike any we experience on earth. It is unceasing. His unconditional love does not require you to be perfect, sinless, clean, lovely, or beautiful. He knows you. He sees you. He has seen every moment of your entire life and he loves you anyway.

His blood needed to be spilled to atone for our Sin. Your Sin. He gave himself as a sacrifice so that in this life we could be in a relationship with him, and receive his comfort, his encouragement, his wisdom, his joy.  He rose from the dead so that after your inevitable death on earth, you could be raised to a new eternal life in heaven with him.

Whether you have never known the love of God or whether you have lost sight of it, I pray that you will choose to see through the wrapping paper and tinsel this Christmas, to see the real reason for this season. You… and the incredible love that God has for you.

Watch this video and listen to a beautiful song about the reason for Christmas:

"How Many Kings?" by DownHere

Things Christians Should Learn from the Phil Robertson Fallout

Things Christians Should Learn from the Phil Robertson fallout:

1.     When truth needs to be said, it needs to be said tactfully. Phil’s comments did point to scripture, but his expanded comments about anatomy appalled even me. It mistakenly assumed that homosexuality is only about the physical and nothing about the emotional. No wonder so many were offended!

If you agree with Phil that homosexuality is a sin, then you should shy away from generalized comments and approach individual cases with sensitivity, God’s truth, and compassion. Many people who live a homosexual lifestyle, evenly openly and proudly, have faced a lot of cruelty, mockery, and guilt. Some have committed suicide because the pain is too much to handle. For those (including many Christians) who have homosexual feelings, face a daily battle and we need more bible-believing Christians to love them, encourage them, and remind them of God’s power, hope, and grace. Looking at either group with disgust will never help anything.

2.     Don’t fall into the trap. Several times a year, a famous person who is outspoken about their Christian faith gets baited with the question about homosexuality or same-sex marriage from a liberal media source.  Why? Because it will enrage someone and sell more magazines. Non-famous Christians get these questions posed to them in an attempt to discredit them or to incite an argument. If the Holy Spirit has led you to give your answer, then answer with God’s truth (and nothing more or less).  All Christians are told to share God’s word with the unbelieving world on a one on one level. Only some Christians (pastors, writers, speakers) are given the proper wisdom and gifts to speak that same truth to a group of strangers. If you have a close friend who is struggling with homosexuality, then God may be trying to use you to share His love, or His grace, or His guidance with them.

3.     Stop comparing homosexuality to other sin. Yes, the bible groups this sin in with others in the passage to which Phil referred. (1 Corinthians 6:8-10; see also 1 Timothy 1:9-11). However, in this passage Paul was speaking to the bible-believing church in Corinth. They already knew the theological concept that all sin is created equal, because it is part of the sin condition that all humans inherited from their ancestors Adam and Eve which causes us to think things and do actions that separate us from God. From an eternal perspective, a glutton, a liar, an alcoholic, a murderer, a lustful man, a disobedient teen and yes, a homosexual are all at risk of not inheriting the kingdom of God (i.e. going to heaven) unless they believe in Jesus’s redeeming death and resurrection and surrender their life to his grace.  However, to someone who doesn’t know this theology or believe this theology, they only see the worldly consequences of these behaviors. Yes, murder is bad. Lies are sometimes bad. Gluttony is part of our culture and only bad when we step on the scale. Disobedience in the teen years is a healthy way of differentiating us from our parents. Lust is an outrageously successful business in the form of Victoria Secret, strip clubs and pornography.  It is horribly wrong to compare homosexuality to murderers or bestiality in the eyes of an unbeliever, so just don’t do it. And if you get backed into a corner, read the passage straight from the bible.

4.     Stop being surprised that people are offended by the bible. Remember that we are witnessing the greatest battle of all time. Satan and God are fighting a fierce fight for the souls of people around us. Many people are unknowingly being used by Satan as pawns for his tactics. Many Christians do really dumb things that actually aid their enemy. Being aware of this fact allows us to see the bigger picture so that we may actually help the Lord to save his people. Any time the word of God is spoken outside of the church, attacks will happen. Any time a celebrity starts speaking out on his faith, attacks will happen. I am guessing that simply by writing this post, I will lose several Facebook friends. There will always be consequences to speaking about God in a world run by unbelievers. Some we must accept. Others we must fight, which leads me to…

5.     Choose your battle.  I do believe that it is wrong that Christians cannot share their opinions without being silenced. When was the last time the ACLU fought for a Christian’s right to do anything? People may bash or mock Jesus Christ or his followers all they like and that is considered freedom of speech. Yet sharing our beliefs is considered hate speech. Now that is intolerance.

6.     A last warning. We are 6 days away from celebrating the birth of our savior who makes so much of the junk we face personally and socially irrelevant. This is the one time a year where even unbelievers can look at our Lord with reverence. The one time when you hear things like “God bless you” without dirty looks. The one time you hear Christian songs played on secular radio. Do not let a controversy such as this overshadow Christmas! Who needs to hear the story of Christmas in your life today?

Advent Readings, Activities and Crafts

It is December 1st and we are beginning our Advent celebration in our house. My children love when we do activities that teach about the bible. Unfortunately, it is rare that I have time to plan them and then do them with the kids. At Christmastime, there are so many ready made crafts and activities that it makes it easy. Let me share with you our favorite place for kids activities so they remember the reason we celebrate. Truth in the Tinsel has an ebook, a website, and a Facebook page that gives 24 activities the kids will love! For women, Good Morning Girls has an advent study that you can follow on their blog and Facebook page. Please share how you and yours plan to prepare for the coming of the Lord!

When You Don't Feel Like Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving of 2003 was difficult for me. Having recently moved to Toledo, Ohio I had not yet made any friends. I was enrolled in a Graduate School program on the verge of collapse. We lived in an apartment in which there was a smell as if someone had died with pickles in his pockets and was left to decay, pickles and all. My 18 month old marriage was struggling. And worst of all, every night I cried myself to sleep, mourning the miscarriage of our first baby 13 weeks into the pregnancy. 

I didn’t feel like giving thanks. Especially to the Lord. I’m not sure this is theologically correct but I personally use the name “the Lord” for God whenever I am referring to his sovereignty over my life, my circumstances, my world. I was well aware that God was Lord over my circumstances. He alone was in that Emergency Room with me as I endured a horribly painful miscarriage and even more excruciating heartbreak. I pleaded and I literally was crying out to him to save my baby, until the moment the ultrasound showed that my baby's heart (that I had seen beating strong on an ultrasound earlier that day) was beating no more. He had allowed it to happen, just like all the other pain in my life. My God of miracles chose not to perform any miracles, at least not any that I had recognized. My God who answers the prayers of the faithful, upon hearing my plea to save my baby, said no.

Looking back I can see that there were many things in my life for which I could have given thanks. But the misery of my situation blinded me to such blessings.

Some of you might be feeling the same things this Thanksgiving. While others are on Facebook counting off 30 days of blessings, or writing blogs dedicated to the goodness of God, you can only think of that illness you have, the person you lost, the spouse you despise, the money you don’t have, the future you fear, the child you can’t reach, the job you can’t find, the loneliness you feel.

I wish I had the wisdom to help you. I wish I could find a meme to share that speaks encouragement. But no words I’ve formed or picture of a kitten on a string with the slogan “Hang in There” will help.

Rather, I would like to share my favorite story of finding purpose and thanksgiving even in the most dire of circumstances.

In her book, The Hiding Place, devout Christian Corrie ten Boom chronicles her horrendous experience in a Nazi death camp. Corrie and her sister Betsie used their time to share the gospel and minister to their fellow prisoners.  At one point in the horrendous, overcrowded, disease filled barracks, they are reading their forbidden bible together.  

In the feeble light I turned the pages. “Here it is: ‘Comfort the frightened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all…’ “ It seemed written expressly to Ravensbruck.

                       “Go on,” said Betsie. “That wasn’t all.”

                       “Oh yes: ‘…to one another and to all. Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus---“

                       “That’s it, Corrie! That’s His answer. ‘Give thanks in all circumstances!’ That’s what we can do. We can start right now to thank God for every single thing about this new barracks!”

                       I stared at her, then around me at the dark, foul-aired room.

                       “Such as?” I said.

                       “Such as being assigned here together.”

                       I bit my lip. “Oh yes, Lord Jesus!”

                       “Such as what you’re holding in your hands.”

                       I looked down at the Bible.  “Yes! Thank You, dear Lord, that there was no inspection when we entered here!  Thank you for all the women, here in this room, who will meet You in these pages.”

                       “Yes,” said Betsie, “Thank You for the very crowding here. Since we’re packed so close, that many more will hear!” She looked at me expectantly. “Corrie!” she prodded.

                       “Oh, all right. Thank You for the jammed, crammed, stuffed, packed, suffocating crowds.”

                       “Thank You,” Betsie went on serenely, “for the fleas and for---“

                       The fleas! This was too much.  “Betsie, there’s no way even God can make me grateful for a flea.”

                       “ ‘Give thanks in all circumstances,’ “ she quoted. “It doesn’t say, ‘in pleasant circumstances, ‘ Fleas are part of this place where God has put us.”

                       And so we stood between piers of bunks and gave thanks for fleas. But this time I was sure Betsie was wrong.

Corrie and Betsie continued to share the gospel, witness miracles, and inspire hope every night in their flea-laden barracks. They never understood how they were able to share so unhindered, as other barracks at the camp had near constant patrolling from guards who would surely confiscate any bible and put to death any prisoner who dared to bring the hope of the Gospel to the prisoners.

Some time later, Betsie recounts a conversation to Corrie.

“You know how we’ve never understood why we had so much freedom in the big room,” she said.  “well---I’ve found out.”

That afternoon, she said, there’d been confusion in her knitting group about sock sizes and they’d asked the supervisor to come and settle it.

                       “But she wouldn’t. She wouldn’t step through the door and neither would the guards. And you know why?”

                       Betsie could not keep the triumph from her voice: “Because of the fleas! That’s what she said, ‘That place is crawling with fleas!’ “

                       My mind rushed back to our first hour in this place. I remembered Betsie’s bowed head, remembered her thanks to God for creatures I could see no use for.

There are many circumstances that come our way for which we can see no use. Time and wisdom might bring understanding for some of them. Others will never make sense to us, yet we are to be thankful anyway.  It is not easy to give thanks for something that only causes us pain or stress or sadness or hate.  But if we continue to trust God, the Lord of all, the Sovereign King, we can be thankful for

·      His faithfulness to us

·      His love for us

·      His willingness to send his Son to die on a cross to pay for our sin

·      His ability to resurrect his Son so that our souls might also be resurrected after death to the presence of God where there is no pain or suffering

Eventually, we might even be able to thank Him for our “fleas”—those things in our life, because we will truly believe that God loves us and he can use all circumstances, all situations, all pain, all suffering for good in our lives and the lives of those around us.

Corrie ten Boom