When my Ginger was five-years-old, her mischief got her into trouble. After a little swat on the bottom, she cried. When she finished crying, I wanted to make sure she knew why I spanked her.
“Ginger,” I asked, “Do you know why I spanked you?”
“Yes,” she sniffled.
“Why?”
With her big brown eyes looking up at me, she answered, “Cause you’re mad at me.”
I was so glad I asked her. I would have hated for her to have shed tears for nothing. If she did not know why she was disciplined, then the discipline was wasted and improperly done. I spent a few minutes sitting beside her and explaining the lesson she needed to learn.
Many years later she called me at six in the morning with the news that her apartment had burned down. No one was hurt, but a lot of things were burned up. She kept a good attitude at first, but as the days went by, things got harder. She and her husband moved to another apartment, but it was noisy and awful. They had to close down their business for a few days. Hers and Jeff’s routines were all messed up. Life started to feel hard. I spent a few phone calls telling her that everything would be okay. She had great faith, but still there were those tough days.
Within a few days of the fire, she and Jeff closed on their new home. It is on a cul-de-sac in a nice, quiet neighborhood. The day they closed was one of the happiest days of her lives. I called her. She had suffered and now that the pain was mostly past, I wanted to make sure that she had learned the lesson.
“Ginger,” I said to her, “For Christians, everything works out in the end. If it hasn’t worked out yet, then it is not the end.” We laughed about God taking my old car that had 220,000 mile. I told her God took her apartment so he could give her a beautiful new house.
Romans 8:28 says, “We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God.” No, I do not believe that God wrecked my car or burned her apartment, but isn’t it neat how things worked out? I believe this passage teaches that Christians have the promise from God that the bad days of our lives can be turned into something good. You have to put forth the effort, but God will always do more than his share.
Let me say it again, “For Christians, everything works out in the end. If it hasn’t worked out yet, then it is not the end.” Don’t fret or worry. Work toward and wait patiently for the good ending. It is coming.
Lonnie Davis
Today’s HeartWord – Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.