When a Hard Question Reminds Us of Comforting Truth

Inside: When I wonder how my accident last year fit into God’s will, looking back at another tough season brings helpful clarity. I hope what I noticed encourages you as you reflect on your own life. ~

Was getting hit by a car last year God’s will for my life?

There’s nothing like starting a blog post with an easy question, right? Seriously, though, it’s an issue I pondered quite a bit after my bike accident 18 months ago. Perhaps you have asked a similar question after something difficult or tragic happened to you too.

Randy and I discussed it, even argued some. He believes, as do I, that God allowed the accident, and that His good purposes will result from it. What we differed on was whether the accident itself was His will.

God’s Book

I lean toward yes, because of the scripture that says all the days of my life were written in God’s book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:16b). The way I see it, if one specific day of my life includes an accident, then that particular event was written in God’s book too. Which means it is part of His will for my life.

I don’t think God caused the accident. But in my mind, if He allows something that happens to me, it’s part of His plan for me. If it wasn’t, it wouldn’t have happened. I don’t know how or why this works; I simply believe it.

That said, I don’t insist on this perspective in a dogmatic way. When it comes to this issue, especially, I think there’s room for semantics, as well as different ways of looking at the circumstances.

Another Difficult Season

Another example from my life helped me think about this more clearly. Maybe it will encourage you too if you’ve ever struggled with reconciling God’s will with the hard parts of life.

In my 20s and 30s, I had stage 4 endometriosis that caused pain and wreaked havoc on my reproductive system. Endometriosis is a disease, and disease is a symptom of sin. Not my sin, necessarily, but the sin that entered the world when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit.

In my case, endometriosis caused me to be infertile. And because I was infertile, Randy and I decided to adopt two children—our daughters Lilly and Molly—from China.

God’s Purpose

Some might wonder whether it was God’s will for me to be infertile or to suffer from endometriosis. I don’t have a firm answer to that, but here’s what I do know for certain.

God’s will was that our family would come together by way of adoption and that it would be made up of me, Randy, Lilly and Molly. Randy and I couldn’t conceive, but we still wanted to be parents. And God used our infertility to accomplish His will for our family.

In other words, He allowed my endometriosis. And in the long run, He used it to fulfill His purposes for the Flowers family. I’m so thankful for this; I cannot imagine my family any other way.

Comforting Truth

Which brings me back around to my accident, and to situations in your life that may trigger similar questions about God’s will. We have to consider two factors—semantics, as I mentioned earlier, along with the possibility that we may never have definitive answers.

As we wait for the more difficult part of our stories to unfold, however, we can allow the truth of scripture to settle our souls and calm our hearts.

Psalm 138:8 assures us that “The Lord will fulfill his purpose for [us].” Philippians 1:6 promises us that “He who began a good work in [us] will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” And Romans 8:28 reminds us that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

We should never toss these Bible verses out like cliches when we can’t think of anything else to say to another hurting person. But when we hide them away in the quietness of our hearts, they can offer hope and serve as a lifeline when the hard questions swirling around us have no immediate answers.

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I’ve barely skimmed the surface when it comes to the topic of God’s will and how it relates to suffering. If you have thoughts about this, I’d love for you to share them in the comments.

♥ Lois

P.S. I’m linking up this week with InstaEncouragements and Let’s Have Coffee.