Counting the gifts God showers upon me has been a life changing practice. Throughout the Bible one can find the encouragement, the admonitions, the command to give thanks. And I have tried to give thanks in all things. I have tried to see the blessing in the hard. But.
There’s always a But isn’t there?
But there is one thing in which I am unable to find any good. There is one thing where layer upon layer of a dark, dirty, pain filled wound there is NO GOOD. Despite the deep cleansing healing that the Father has done within my mind and soul the only good is that HE has cleansed and healed. All there has been to give thanks for is that HE is my HEALER, my Redeemer.
But a message was recently shared with our congregation that included the reading of Romans 8:28 and 29 with a few comments. In that message there were many nuggets to write down and ponder, but that one passage and the words spoken caught my entire attention. I don’t think I heard anything else of the message.
Here is the passage of Scripture.
Romans 8:28-29
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Honestly I have quoted verse 28 many times, I have sought the truth of this passage, wrestled with it, never being able to reconcile it with this one thing. Verse 29 was not familiar to me.
As verse 29 was read and commented on, a good that only God could bring was illuminated before me. In all things He is working the good for me. The good?
 |
| He uses my broken desperate need to conform me to the image of His Son. |
~ the good is… to be conformed to the image of Christ.
“according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
His purpose ~ conformation to the image of God.
For me, whom He FOREKNEW and PREDESTINED.
The evil things that happen to us are not, as far as I understand, God’s plan for us. God doesn’t plan evil for His children. (Jeremiah 29:11) But He can redeem the bad things, and the redemption can work to conform us (Romans 8:29), transform us (Romans 12:1, 2)
And dear precious one reading these words, these words are for YOU. Broken, lovely You, whom He has foreknown and predestined. The dark bad things, the evil things are not His plan for you. But the good He can make out of them is far more than we can hope for.
By Quiet Waters 
