I’m not gonna lie, watching Mom’s journey with cancer was one of the hardest things I have ever been through in my life. I was scared, sad, unsure, heartbroken watching my mom suffer, and so many other emotions. My mom was my best friend, and I miss her like crazy… so sometimes it still is hard, very hard. However, God spoke to me a beautiful truth of His during this tough time, and I want to share it with you. It comes from one of my favorite passages of Scripture, Romans 8. Specifically, He gave me Romans 8:28, “For we know that God works ALL THINGS for the good of those who love Him, those who have been called according to His purpose.”
Yes. That verse says ALL THINGS, which includes my mom suffering from and passing away from cancer. Now the good for mom is pretty obvious… because of her cancer, she is now with Jesus for eternity. I’m not gonna lie, though, for me, the good wasn’t/isn’t always so easy to see. However, any time I felt sad, scared, etc. God always reminded me of this verse. God reminded me that He was/is using this extremely tough time in my life for my good.
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to fully understand what all good God had designed for this time of my life until I reach eternity, but I can tell you a few good things that happened during this trial in my life. First (and most important), I drew closer in my relationship with Christ. I had never been through anything even remotely this difficult, so I had to learn to cling to God’s strength, His truth, and His Word. God taught me how to have joy in trials, have joy in His will, and other truths that I will specifically blog about later! Another good was that my family grew so much closer. We were already close, but God used this trial to draw us even closer together. Also, we all got to see a different and hilarious side of Mom. For some reason, she became so much more blunt and willing to speak her mind once she had cancer. We still laugh about that! Mom and I got to spend a lot of time together during that time since she couldn’t work. We went to lunch, went shopping, wedding planned, and just talked. I cherish those times so much. I also believe another good is this blog. My prayer is that God will use this trial for me to glorify Him and minister to others through it. I hope this blog is one of those ways I can do that, and I pray He will give me more opportunities in the future to minister through my trial. Ultimately, the good God is talking about in this verse is making me more like Him, which is a pretty awesome good!
There were times when I prayed, “Okay, God, I don’t see the good in this,” but I just had to trust the promise He made me in this verse. The end of this verse specifically says that this promise is for those who love God and who are called according to His purpose, which basically means this is a promise for Christians. So good news, if you know Christ as your Savior, this promise is for you!
I hope you cling to this beautiful truth just like I did and still do. This verse says ALL THINGS, which includes everything from a bad hair day to cancer. God is using every single good thing and every single bad thing to work together for His good and for your good. You might not always be able to see the good and you might have to be like me and ask God to show you the good, but the good is there. Remember this when you are going through your next trial, or when you’re just having a bad day. God is using those trials in your life to make you more like Him and work things for your good.
If you are not a Christian, this promise doesn’t apply to you, but it can. All you have to do is realize your sin and need for a Savior, believe in the Gospel (the death, burial, and Resurrection of Jesus), and ask Jesus to be your personal Lord and Savior. There’s more info on this in a previous post I did, Jesus, Only Jesus. I would LOVE to talk with you more about this, too. Just post a comment or send me an email!
My prayer is that God will etch this beautiful truth on your heart just like He did mine. Sometimes, it wasn’t always feel easy to cling to this promise because things didn’t “feel” good, but cling to it anyway. God is faithful and is working things toward your good, even when it doesn’t feel like it. What promises has God etched on your heart during a tough time? I’d love to hear them!
Check out this song… It sings this truth over and over again!
diariesofadaughter.com 