It All Works Together

Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Have you ever really sat down and tried to figure out what this scripture means? What it is trying to let us know about the heart of God and about our personal lives?

Here a few thoughts that cross my mind:

• I am not alone
This last year has brought many interesting, and at times difficult, situations to the surface for me to face. As I look back and remember the highs and lows of the journey, there has not been one step where I could not recognize the Lord’s presence. God is with me and He is with you, every step of the way!

• There is a plan
It is always easier to walk on hot coals when you know that your next step will bring the relief that your singed toes are pleading for. My most difficult moments in life have always been when I stopped trusting in the larger plan of God and felt trapped, suffering in the storm I was facing. Lift your eyes and keep them focused on the One who can calm the storm instead of the illusion of catastrophe you see before you.

• The Lord knows that I will doubt and get scared at times
There are many scriptures that the Lord has to encourage us. This is one of them. He put this verse here to remind me not to worry but to keep being diligent. He will work out the details, but I must stay on course. The fact that I have doubts and fear does not surprise Him. He not only recognizes that I will be afraid, but He also gave me a nightlight (scripture does say that His word is a light unto my path!) to help me chase away the darkness.

• There is no reason to doubt and get scared at times
I know that I just said that it was OK to be afraid and that God is not surprised, but it is also not necessary. He has already made provision to help you and protect you from whatever is around the corner or behind that door.

• There will be some events in my life that I won’t believe are good at first
I think the Lord put this scripture in the Bible to warn me that I am not going to understand everything but to hang in there anyway. Again, my doubts and uncertainty do not catch Him off guard. He created me and knows me inside and out.

• I must be about His purposes and not my own
This is the surrendering portion that is difficult for so many and especially me. I have already written out and planned in my mind what I think the Lord should do and why. How foolish I am to think that I am smart enough to plan God’s steps! I am doing my best to take all of my purposes and leave them at the foot of the cross.

• Our responsibility is to stay near the heart of God!
This scripture is a promise for those who love Him! Do you love Him? Take some time today and answer that question. If that answer is, “YES!” then take some time and figure out what that love should look like. You might find that your decisions and your life habits do not properly represent the love that you profess. Run to your Jesus today- He is waiting for you!

As you will see in this final portion of scripture, He loves you and me with a ferociousness that is unceasing.

Romans 8:31-39
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.