Why Romans 8:28...

I just thought I should share a little on why I have Romans 8:28 on the top of this page. On August 25, 2007 (I have it written in my Bible) I was reading Romans 8 and was reflecting on some things going on in our lives. Romans 8:28 stood out big time. So I highlighted it, and prayed that God would show me what that means with the situation we were dealing with at the time (an alcoholic in the family was slowly killing themselves, and it was very scary to watch). Over the last four years that verse has come up many times (I can't count the number). It's almost like God is hitting me in the head, saying you need to remember this, as you have seen in happen, and will see it again and again!

So two years pass (it's now 2009) and this person who is drinking themselves to death has a revelation of sorts and finally cleans up! This person has now been clean for almost two years! The sad part is how close to death the person came. I'm so thankful to God, because this person's ability to get free of that addiction is, in part, thanks to prayers from many people. I'm sure of that! So God worked all things together for good!

I'm now seeing the assault on my daughter is also God working together all things for good. If she hadn't been assaulted it would have taken a lot more time to get her assessed, and to find out that she has ADHD and PDD-NOS. She was already in counseling and all it took was a phone call and few weeks later we got to meet with the psychologist. Going through the system without her counselor would have taken a lot longer (the sad part of all these "systems" is the length of time to get kids the help that they need), possibly a year or two. Don't get me wrong, I hate the fact that she was assaulted, but I am glad that there was a small sliver of a silver lining to it happening. She is doing so much better in school right now! In fact she is getting an award on Friday (she doesn't know about it yet). I will share more about that in another post. I'm just so happy to see all the progress she is making now that she is getting help.

God is working all things together for good in all the moves that we have made too! Writing this stuff down is really helping me see that too. We moved from Barrie to Windsor (5 hour drive) for my hubby's work, and we met lots of great people down there. We then moved from Windsor to a place near Ottawa (which we now call home), which is an eight hour drive. Only my sister is close by (but still almost three hours away), and all the other family is at least five hours away. Church has helped, and we have great neighbours, so making some friends has been easier, than if we had moved to another location near family (I found we hung out with our family more than with our friends). Now we spend quality time with family when we are together. It's still hard (the loss of "free" babysitting sucks), but I think this is where we are supposed to be (even my Mom said that to me, and I'm sure it was hard for her to say).

I still get reminded regularly about this verse (on the radio just two weeks ago, and during a recent Bible study), and so I have to keep reminding myself about all the things that seem to work together for good, so that I don't get too stressed out. It's difficult some days, when Rosy is acting out and I'm about to rip my hair out, but I'm still learning to walk with God through this mess we call life.

Is there a verse that stands out for you? I would love to read about it!

(Next on my list is to figure out a signature for these posts....)