In The End, It's All Good?

     I won't lie or sugarcoat anything. These past few months have been extremely and excruciatingly difficult in ways I never could have imagined before. I have faced challenges and trials that I thought I wasn't prepared for. And yet, I made it to the place where I am. I'm honestly in awe.

     A few months ago, in the middle of everything, I came across a quote that I'd like to share with you. It had a huge impact on me and still does, especially today.
"A good day is a good day. A bad day is a good story. In the end, it's all good."
I kept this quote close on hand every day. I was so sure that it was true, because it reminded me of the Bible verse, Romans 8:28.
"And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."

     But as the days passed by, I would still end up in tears by the time night came and I felt alone. Here I was holding onto the promise that God would make this into something good, and yet I still felt stuck in this place where I was completely and utterly alone. For weeks, for months, I would lay in bed at night and ask God "Why is this happening. Here I am at the end of the day, a bad day, and this isn't my idea of a good story! This isn't my idea of anything good. It's still a bad day, it's still a bad story, it's still a bad time!" I was filled with so much anger towards this situation, towards the days that passed.

     Some days would be good. I loved those days and I thought of them as a prize amongst a pile of garbage. But they were far apart and there were few in those bad days. This went on for a while. I put the quote away for a while and ignored it. But it came up last week, and when I saw it, I laughed bitterly and thought "Yeah right. All good? What a joke." and passed right through it. Until this week.

     I had a conversation with someone. They were going through a similar situation and I knew they were struggling with it a lot. I could relate. I still struggle. So I listened to them as they talked, and when they asked for my input and my advice, I gave it willingly. I gave it all from experience of being in a similar situation. We talked until late into the night and in the end, they felt quite settled about it, after I explained some ways I had been helped by others at that time of my life, ways that I had figured out that helped me. The conversation ended on a very good note, of us encouraging each other with the promise that we would talk again soon.

     I went to bed feeling pretty great, happy that I could use something I'd gone through to help someone else and feeling blessed to have had such an enriching conversation with them. It wasn't until today at work, that it all hit me.

     "A good day is a good day. A bad day is a good story. In the end, it's all good." It echoed in my head all morning. I couldn't think of why for the longest time. I felt like my mind was spinning in circles trying to figure it all out, like a puzzle.

     See, I'm not the most patient person. I struggle with that. I always want something instantly. Something now. And for months, I thought "Why isn't this happening? Where's my good story?" at the end of every single bad day. But it never says "At the end of the day." or anything like that. All it says is, "In the end, it's all good." And then I realized, this is what it meant. I had finally figured it out. I had believed in this quote, I had wondered why it wasn't coming through for me, when all along, I'd never really understood the grand significance of it.

     Because until this week, it hadn't been a good story for me. For the past while, it had been anything but a good story for me. But in that moment when someone was going through something similar, when someone was in need of hearing something encouraging, when someone needed to feel not so alone, it became a good story.

     It becomes a good story in the right time. It takes editing, it takes patience, it takes a rough draft, and another draft, and countless corrections along the way, until it really and truly becomes a good story. We hear people talk about this thing called "God's timing" countless times. It's a common Christian phrase and it's one of the most used ones.

     It takes God's timing for a bad day to turn into a good story. And after four months of waiting for countless bad days to turn into good stories, many nights spent wondering why nothing was happening, I feel like I learned the most obvious thing of all. But it's a wonderful feeling. Like solving a mystery after a long search.

     I have a good story. You have a good story. But be patient, take time, and realize that yes, a bad day is a good story, but it won't be right away. It'll be a hard story and it may be a painful story. But one day that story will become something good for someone else who is in the same place you once stood. And that's what makes everything worth it. It is worth so much more than you realize. I hope one day, you're able to tell someone about the bad day that turned into a good story.

Blessings!