what it takes sometimes

Acts 8:1 Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen.

A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria. 2 (Some devout men came and buried Stephen with great mourning.) 3 But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison.

4 But the believers who were scattered preached the Good News about Jesus wherever they went. 5 Philip, for example, went to the city of Samaria and told the people there about the Messiah. 6 Crowds listened intently to Philip because they were eager to hear his message and see the miraculous signs he did. 7 Many evil spirits were cast out, screaming as they left their victims. And many who had been paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city.
 


It's a fairly accepted idea that God used the persecution He knew would happen to scatter the new believers around the countryside. And as it says in verse 4, as a result, they started telling people about Jesus, just because that's who they were.

Now, I want to be very careful what I say next...

Sometimes, it seems to me & has & is true in my life so far, that God uses some of the difficult things or periods in our lives to accomplish His purpose for us, or to refine our walk with Him, or to bring about more of the completion of the BIG picture.

It's hard to figure out sometimes the why behind all that. The persecution back then included the killing or imprisoning of Christ followers, which hardly seems as part of God's plan. But He used that persecution to motivate people to get off their butts & spread the word about Jesus.

Could it follow that He would do the same with us? Could He use the negative, terrible, or inexplicable things & seasons of our lives for a whole slew of things?

Do we truly believe that "all things work together for them that love the Lord & are called to His purpose."

Think about it...