Can't Make This Stuff Up By Whoa SusannahSýnishorn

The Bible says we will have trials and tribulations in this world. We are going to experience storms and valleys, and we may even find ourselves questioning why God has allowed things to happen and whether He really is good. Oh, the Enemy loves this. He loves to creep into our thoughts, especially when we are downtrodden and vulnerable, and whisper to us that God has forsaken us. He doesn’t want us to see the beauty in the ashes. He wants us to question God’s love and mercy. He wants us to feel like victims. And he definitely wants us to suffer a bout of amnesia and forget all the times in the past when God pulled us through.

When I begin to question God’s goodness, when I begin to question why things weren’t different—why my daddy had to have a heart attack while I was home alone, or why he had to die when my mother and I were both angry with him for drinking—I have to cling to the Word and remember that all things work together for good for those who love Him. I have to remember God is the Author of my life’s story and every tragedy I’ve gone through has been His perfect will. I have to remember that there’s beautiful purpose to be found in pain.

I also remind myself of the incredible pain Jesus endured on that old rugged cross. Mercy! He was bloodied and beaten and battered. He was ridiculed and mocked. He endured pain we cannot even comprehend. But, wasn’t the beautiful purpose revealed? Wasn’t it revealed three days later when the tomb proved empty? Praise hands!

We cannot measure God’s goodness solely on our emotions and experience. Instead, we have to know—truly know—that our Father bestows perfect gifts on us that our mere minds cannot even comprehend. Whatever our trial, no matter how painful or debilitating, can be considered a gift if it points us to Jesus.

That is the upside to life’s downs.