I’ve been thinking about a few people who are very dear to my heart and who have been going through considerable troubles and obstacles in their lives recently. One of them even asked at one point why bad things happen to good people and the comment made me think about the discussion our small group at church had recently on growth and change.

My first thought on this was my belief that God doesn’t punish and how when hard times come it isn’t because God has forgotten us or stopped loving us, it’s because we’re about to experience the kind of change that will introduce a new growth in us that will impact our way of thinking and living our lives. It’s because he loves us so much that we’re about to go through that change and time of adjustment, even though at the time that change is difficult for us and of course it would be much easier to accept if it were done under “our” terms 😉

I know that in my own experience there was a time in my life when God was very far away from my heart because I wouldn’t allow him to get closer, primarily because of my own selfish reasons because I wanted to keep making choices in my life that I knew weren’t the best for me and were ultimately causing me pain but at the same time I wanted God to help me and make things better…but in the way I wanted them to be better, rather than letting go completely and fully giving myself to God and allowing him to make whatever changes he knew I needed. Then finally one day I grew very tired of the troubles and I knew I couldn’t go on with that kind of brokenness and I finally allowed God to completely enter my heart and show me the way. The changes weren’t easy but in the end and after some time I realized that I came out stronger and happier from the experience of allowing God to fully guide me. The best part was that I experienced a whole new level of love with God when I made that step to truly letting him enter my heart and life.

I found this setence in the Book of Job that says “Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” I know sometimes people may find it’s difficult to relate to stories in the Bible or that it’s easy to think that something is easier said than done once you’re actually experiencing a hardship or trouble. But I do firmly believe that if we trust and have faith in God, truly give ourselves to him and listen to the changes he’s introducing into our lives, we will see that something good can come of a bad experience and we will come out safe in the end with God’s guidance.