Even more wonderful

I was visiting a friend together with my mom and my granddaughter. We had a good time and since my friend absolutely loves children, she started to craft bracelets with my little girl. Of course, she was allowed to pick the colors of the pearls and was even given a heart-shaped pendant to add to her bracelet. When hers was done, my friend agreed to do another one for herself and my granddaughter helped chose the pearls.  While trying to finish the arm bracelet by knotting the ends together it happened: Somehow the string slid from my friend’s fingers and almost all the pearls scattered to the floor. “Oh no”, she exclaimed. “I don’t think we can recreate it in the same beautiful way, that we had crafted it”. To which my grandchild said: “If it won’t be the way it was, it will be even more wonderful”!

Wow, I thought, what an insight! Sometimes I try to cling so much to “the old way”. The way it used to be, the way I am used to doing things, the way things have always been handled. And then something happens that destroys the thing I consider precious: My way of life, the relationships I have or any other thing. And I start to mourn the loss of the thing I considered wonderful. I make my mind up that it will never be as wonderful as it had been. But when I think about it: That is a very short-sighted way of perceiving things. I don’t know the outcome of the “new thing” that is about to happen. I don’t know if the misfortune or catastrophe that seemingly destroyed everything, won’t in the end lead to an even better outcome.

We can see that in the biblical story of Joseph. He had so many bad things happen to him by the hands of his brothers and others, yet in the end he declared: You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. (Genesis 50,20 ©NIV). All of the good in this life was taken away from him and yet in the end he discovered that the intended evil turned out to be something really good. Why? Because God’s hands were in all of it and God had a masterplan. Had Joseph’s life completely changed? Yes, it had. But in the end, it was “even more wonderful.”

Let yourself be encouraged: “If it won’t be the way it was, it will be even more wonderful”! Especially when we trust in God.