Romans 8:28
My entire life I imagined that I would be the one having to say goodbye to everyone-- that I would be moving to New York or LA or anywhere else you could imagine thousands of miles from my lifelong home. And the way it turned out is the complete opposite: all of my friends are telling me goodbye before moving hours away, and I am a mere fifteen minutes from home.
I occasionally have a sort of existential crisis about not getting into Columbia University and turning down my acceptance to New York University for financial purposes. Tonight, for the first time in a long while, I turned my fears and worries to Scripture.
It's not unusual for my "recently searched" bar on google to be filled with "Scripture about ___." I have filled that blank with every word from anxiety to happiness, from anger to love. And this time it read "Scripture about things not going your way."
What I found is a sermon by Sang Kwon with one of the best takes I have ever heard on Romans 8:28.
http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/when-things-dont-go-your-way-sang-kwon-sermon-on-god-in-the-hardships-46589.asp
read for yourself here ^
My first take-away from this is how crucial it is for us to understand certain verses as a whole. Of course God wants to work for the good of those who love Him, but we must remember the "who have been called according to His purpose" part. I am a firm believer in finding a job and lifestyle that you are passionate about and fulfill your heart, but our purpose in life is not necessarily to be happy. I think our purpose is to make some sort of difference-- improve something in the world or change someones life, even if it is with something as small as a simple smile or hello.
I like to take this idea into account when I come upon one of these crises I tend to have. I may not be going to college in New York City, but so many things have fallen perfectly into place because of my choice to accept a full scholarship to the University of Montevallo. Not only am I already seeing endless opportunities through my job at the Dean's office, but had I chosen a different college I would never have decided to compete last minute for the title of National American Miss Alabama Teen, and that was a true work of God. I have had my title for less than two months and have already met so many amazing people and given significant words of encouragement to girls of all ages.
God's plan may not always be for us to be happy, but will always be for the greater good. And I see that so clearly through the smiles on tiny princesses' faces with every picture and every hello.
God's plans may not always be what we had planned. We may question why this path, it is not what I planned, this is not what makes me happy. But.. He does know what is at the end of the path and the journey to get there. As you can see this path may not be what you had planned but look at the joy it has brought you so far and just imagine what happiness awaits you at the end!
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