And we know that God causes all things

to work together for good to those who love God,

to those who are called according to His purpose.

Romans 8:28

I’m not real wild about artichokes. At least, I didn’t think I was. But that was before our son, John made a gluten free, fully loaded Mediterranean pizza for us. It had marinated artichoke hearts and olives and spinach and feta cheese and was incredible. So now, I think, I do like artichokes. It’s possible that my opinion on artichokes came from a time when my husband surprised me with dinner. He threw some ingredients together, we still don’t know what to call it except, NEVER AGAIN. He mixed artichokes with tuna fish and cream of mushroom soup and tomatoes and a bunch of other things that just happened to be in the cupboard. Truly a case of “its the thought that counts” because that was the worst dinner EVER! I thought for a very long time that artichokes couldn’t be good for anything after that. So the pizza opened my eyes and taste buds to the wonder of artichokes!

This verse doesn’t tell us that all the things that come into our lives are good. We all know that difficult times come. What this verse tells us though, is that God can take the things, the ingredients of our lives, if you will, and make something wonderful of them. I don’t like all the things that come into my life, probably you don’t either, but I like the idea that God, the master chef, can create something incredible, something good, something beyond our wildest hopes and dreams out of those ingredients when I can’t.

God can take the “all things” of our lives, the hurts, the failures, the brokenness, the addictions, the symptoms, the illness, the disease, the broken relationship, the lost dreams and shattered hopes and cause them to work together for our good. He has the recipe that can turn all of our messy ingredients into something absolutely incredible, if we will let Him.

Merciful Father, how humbling it is to know that You are so aware of all the ingredients that have come into my life. Some by my choices, some not. Either way, You promise to take them and turn them into something good. Something I can’t even begin to imagine. Use my life as You will, make of it what pleases You, turn the ingredients of my life into something good and something usable so that others can see and know that You are good. Thank You, in Jesus’ name, amen.

I would love to hear from you. Please let me know if I can be praying for you as well.

pic credit: allrecipes.com