I was recently talking to a friend about one of his mother-in-law‘s favorite sayings. “God was in that,” she will say when something good happens. But my friend asked, “Isn’t God in everything?” My friend has a good point. After all, we can see in the Bible that God allowed Satan to test Job.

When something we don’t like occurs, we might blame God or we might question why God didn’t stop it. But we can’t see the whole picture. God can see the beginning and the end. Something that is uncomfortable, might have a purpose.

I often enjoy listening to Dr. Charles Stanley’s radio program. He recently mentioned that when we are faced with adversity, we should (1) Look at it as though it is from God and (2) Ask God what He wants us to learn from the trial we are going through.

This can be difficult for us to do because initially we might feel blindsided by the adversity. Also, we just want to find a quick, easy, and painless way out of the adversity. Most of us aren’t going to rub our hands together with excitement about walking through a difficult season, all for the sake of learning something.

No matter what difficulty you are facing, the Bible does make a bold promise. “And we know that God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.” – Romans 8:28. God can and will use whatever you are facing for good.

One example that my friend and I discussed in the same conversation that I mentioned above comes from the movie “I Can Only Imagine.” (If you haven’t seen the movie, please do!) Bart Millard, the leader singer of Mercy Me, went through a lot of pain in his life. I am not saying that those things were from God. But I do believe God used them for good.

I am sure we can all look back on trials in our lives and see the hand of God, if we try to have an open mind. Unfortunately, I do know some people who have become too bitter in life and therefore they don’t even want to see how God has been in everything. Basically it comes down to trust. Either we trust God or we don’t. I choose to trust Him. How about you?