The Perfect Ingredients.

Psalm 33:16-22
16 The best-equipped army cannot save a king,
nor is great strength enough to save a warrior.
17 Don’t count on your warhorse to give you victory—
for all its strength, it cannot save you.
18 But the Lord watches over those who fear him,
those who rely on his unfailing love.
19 He rescues them from death
and keeps them alive in times of famine.
20 We put our hope in the Lord.
He is our help and our shield.
21 In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.
22 Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord,
for our hope is in you alone.

I heard a story recently that went something like this:
One day a boy named Bobby was having a bad day. Better yet, a bad year. His mom and dad were in a huge disagreement. Most of their problems involved expenses. His dad couldn't take it and went to stay at a friend's house for about a week. Bobby's grades flunked in school during this time. His parents' were so concerned in their arguments they didn't even make sure he was doing well in school. A note was sent home from the school saying that Bobby was in danger of being retained. His parents never even noticed it because it got stuck in their massive pile of bills. Meanwhile, Bobby was being bullied in school. Nothing seemed to be going his way and everything that could go wrong certainly was going wrong.

While his dad was gone, he went over to his grandmother's house to stay for a while. He opened up to her about his problems. One day, his grandma was baking a cake. She asked Bobby if he wanted a snack and of course he said "yes." "Here, have some cooking oil, Grandma offers. "Yuck, that's nasty," said Bobby. "Well how about a couple raw eggs?" "Gross, Grandma!" he replied. "Would you like some flour then?" "No way." "What about some baking soda?" "Grandma, those are all yucky," he said.

Grandma said, "Why yes, all those seem bad. But when they are put together in the right way, they make a delicious cake! God works the same way. Often times we wonder why he would let us experience difficult times and why Murphy's law would ever come true (whatever can go wrong will go wrong) God knows when he puts these things all in his order, according to his will, they always work out for the good. We have to trust him and, eventually, these things will all make something wonderful!"

God is crazy about you, my blog reader! Look at what he gives you everyday. Beauty, through nature, can be seen each day. Whenever things seem to be at their worst, remember that God loves you. We all have horrible days like Bobby. We may not have problems exactly like Bobby, but they still affect us. Remember, there is a reason for everything!

"Since God is the highest good, he will not allow any evil to exist in his works, unless his omnipotence and goodness were such as to bring good even out of evil." ~St. Augustine