For Us, With Us, AND In Us

"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— ¹⁷the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you." John 14:16-17

"What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:31

If we have God in all aspects of our lives, how can we ever lose? Truly, if we have God with us, in us and for us, how can we even think that maybe we're losing at times? Of course, it happens. Things go wrong, bad things happen, and we feel like maybe God has forgotten about us.

But do you ever have those bad times, and then you look back at those bad times and you see exactly how those bad things changed or shaped other events? Here's an example for you from my own life. Back in June, we needed massive repairs on my van. It wasn't an option, we had to do it, and in doing so, we spent an entire month's worth of salary. Subsequently, we spent a good deal of July catching up on the bills we couldn't pay in June. Even now, it's August, and we're still cleaning up after not being able to pay any bills in June. Yet, had the van not broken down, we'd be sitting just fine financially. And here's where I see exactly where God's hand was in it all.

Because in this time, God has also stirred up our hearts to move, and had we had the financial means to do so, we would have simply picked a place and moved already. But because things have been tight, we've been very selective, trying to find the best bang for our buck, and trying to find the right place that God has had for us. And ultimately, what it comes down to is that while our hearts are ready to move, God isn't ready for us to move, and so we are staying where we are planted until spring. While part of us is already checked out and moved on, there is a part of us that is relieved that we've made this decision- but to be honest, this decision would not have been made if the finances were in place to do otherwise. We likely would have settled for a temporary solution just to be on our way to where our hearts already want to be.

So did God cause our van to need repairs? Who knows, but I do know that where and when the van actually died couldn't have worked out better for us. I also can look and see where having us really scrutinize each and every penny that we've spent this summer has been a benefit- nothing un-necessary has been purchased, and we've been making do with what we have.

I can also take a lot of faith and hope from the events of this summer. I know that God is with us, in us, and for us, and as we encounter a few mountains that need to be overcome, we can take great courage and great faith in knowing that God has His Hand in everything, and we can also know that ALL THINGS will work together for good.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28