Work Out

Romans 8:28 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.
I want you to notice this verse says “all things” not just the good things but all things. We wonder sometimes how that’s possible. When I’m in the middle of something awful it’s hard for me to see how it can be working out for my good, I’ll give you an example. You may or may not know that I was out of work for quite a while. As you can imagine things got tough and long story short I ended up losing my investment property, my home and most of my personal belongings. At 48, I found myself a homeless single parent. Not quite what I expected for myself. I looked for an apartment two times during the foreclosure process and each time the Lord closed the door. He told me all would be provided where I was going next. I knew the Lord promised me this but after my home officially foreclosed I once again looked for a place to live and the Lord said quite clearly “Gena, you can pick the place or I can, it’s up to you.” I decided to let Him pick. I also felt like I was supposed to get Gena’s Jewels published and had no idea how that was going to happen. As you can imagine this was a very difficult time for me. I knew I was where I was supposed to be with the Lord and I kept thinking any minute everything was going to go back to normal but it didn‘t. I seemed to be getting separated from my church family and the friends I had grown to love over the past ten years and no one seemed to notice.

A couple of months ago the Lord sent me to Tampa to visit some new found friends. While I was visiting the Lord told me I was going to move there and since my new friends really were new friends I asked the Lord to tell them too, thinking I got it wrong and this would all go away. Moving was not part of my plan, as a matter of fact I can distinctly remember saying one time I would never live in Tampa. Well guess what? My new friends told me they felt like I was supposed to move in with them! Lucky for me all of my clothes just happened to be in the back of my car :) So here I was homeless, jobless and staying with people I hardly knew. One particular day I had a very devastating thing happen to me. It was at Good Will. Now listen I can handle losing my job, my house, my personal belongings even buying clothes at Good Will what I couldn’t handle was the lady behind the counter of Good Will asking if I qualified for a senior discount! If I was suicidal that could have been it for me. Wasn’t it bad enough no one from my church was calling to see where I was and my closest friends seemed to be yanked right out of my hands? I would be 2 hours away from three of my children AND my grandsons. I asked my older children if they thought I should move thinking they would say no but they thought it was a good idea. What was wrong with all this? I wanted my children to beg me not to go. I wanted people devastated that I was leaving. I wanted wailing and mourning and got none of it. As you can imagine I did not see how all these things were working out for my good.
One of the first things I did when I arrived in Tampa, besides look for a job, was find a church and a ministry to be involved in. I decided to start with the soup kitchen and feeding the homeless as they were now officially my people. Each week my daughter and I drove in the church van with a group of wonderful people to serve the Lord through this ministry.
I mentioned to my new roommates Fritz and Cathy that I was interested in getting Gena’s Jewels published and they told me there was a guy at the church who owned a publishing company. I tried for weeks to figure out who it was then one day I asked Fritz to point him out to me and he said, “you see him every Tuesday night at the soup kitchen, he drives the van.” I had no idea he was right in front of me the whole time. I made an appointment with him for the following week to meet at his office. As I was driving there I started to pray and asked the Lord how I was going to pay him for printing the books. I prayed that maybe I could do some kind of bartering like cleaning his office in return for the publishing. After we discussed printing the book I asked him if I could pray for him and he said yes. As soon as I was finished praying he looked me right in the eye and said “you wouldn’t happen to be looking for a job would you?”

Later the Lord showed me that He had a plan for me in Tampa and if my children didn’t want me to move and my church family and friends were calling it would have been very difficult for me to leave. What appeared to be really hurtful at the time was the very thing I needed in order to make the move and the Lord knew that. The Lord knew a job was waiting for me that would also get the book published with a Godly man He had already assigned the job to.
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 God said a place would be provided and it was. We are staying in a beautiful home with 2 of the most precious Christians I have ever met. I told Him I need friends and He provides more and more each day. He asked me to write the book and He sent me a publisher AND a job!

I don’t know what your going through right now and you may be saying just like I did, how can this situation possibly work out for my good when everything seems to be falling apart. You may be going through the loss of a loved one or a failed relationship or health issues. You may feel scared or lonely or just plain ticked off. You may think there is no way this situation can be good for anyone but this my gem is where faith comes in. You have to remember what Romans 8:28 says because now you’re living it. This is where the rubber meets the road. I don’t have the answer for your situation but I can tell you from personal experience God is in control. He may not do things they way you and I would have planned but it ALWAYS works out for the good of those who are called according to His purpose.



Gena’s jewels