Today’s Focal Passage: Romans 8:28-30
28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose. 29 For those He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those He predestined, He also called; and those He called, He also justified; and those He justified, He also glorified.
More Than You Know
I have some good friends whom I have known for almost 10 years. My first encounter with the family was with their older daughter who was on the soccer team I was coaching when my son was 8 years old. I got to know the mother and then recognized her when she started coming to church.
About two years after that first meeting, another daughter, 5 years old at the time, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Understandably, the family was devastated by the news. The mother, a Christian, expressed confident hope and trust in the Lord. The father, who was not a Christian, tried to cover the situation with alcohol.
I was able to be there, with our pastor, to pray for the family and to share the hope that is only found in Jesus Christ. For a year, the family struggled with medical issues, surgery, and chemical therapy. In the midst of it all, the father fell helpless before the God who loved Him and sacrificed His only Son for him.
The tumor was removed and the cancer went into remission. The young girl developed and expressed a passion in worship. The family, as a whole, freely worshipped, served, and ministered in and through our church.
Near the young lady’s 13th birthday, the cancer reappeared and began to wreak havoc in her young body. The family made the decision to move to another city closer to the hospital treating her. Over the next 18 months, countless treatments and hospital visits were made. The family remained faithful to God and trusting Him and His plan.
Eight months after her 14th birthday, and after several strokes, the Lord took the young lady home to heaven. How many lives has this young lady already touched and changed (in addition to her father), and how many more will continue to be changed because of her faithfulness and passion for Jesus? More than we will ever know.
God doesn’t promise that everything we go through will be pleasant or that we will consider it “good.” What He does promise is that He will work all things—and work through all things—for His good and for His glory. I know one man whose eternal destiny is changed because of this young lady…make that two, if you count me.
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