Everything's Gonna Be Alright

As long as I can remember in my adult life, I’ve always tried to have the belief that “It’s all good.” No matter what gets thrown my way, I’m ok. Notice, I didn’t say that I’ve always “had” the belief. I said I’ve always “tried” to have the belief. When I didn’t get that first youth ministry that I really wanted, it didn’t feel like it was all good. When I moved to Wisconsin and had the joy of going through a church split that some people blamed me for (we’ll talk about that story one day), it didn’t feel like it was all good. When my father passed away, it certainly didn’t feel like it was all good. 

Life has a way of throwing curveballs at us in life, and my life is no different. I’ve had days where it seems like the world is falling in on me, and the pressure is just too much. There have mornings when I didn’t want to get out of bed and face the day. I’ve been through broken relationships, broken churches, broken promises, broken bank accounts, and, more than once, I’ve felt pretty broken myself. However, looking back, I now realize it was all good. I know that sounds crazy, but it’s 100% true. In the midst of every trial I’ve faced in my life, I’ve been able to come out the other side just fine. Does that mean that all the hurt I faced is gone now? No. Does it mean that I wish I still had some of those relationships in my life? Absolutely. But if I’m truly being honest, I have a great life today. I don’t live with regret. I don’t dwell on the past, but look to what God has been doing and what He will do. 

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28

A lot of times, we read that verse as a promise that we’ll get good things: a new job, a huge inheritance from a wealthy uncle we never knew, miraculous healing, or an ex that will come back to us begging for reconciliation. That’s not really what that verse is talking about. We need to think of ourselves more like a clay pot that is constantly being molded into the perfect version of itself. It takes years for perfection. Occasionally, there’s a piece that is a piece that is imperfect and needs to be removed from it. There are occasional cracks that form and need to be brought back together. It may be a little too big and needs to have some clay removed, or too small and needs more clay added. The point is that this potter is longing for the perfect pot, and it doesn’t come easily or quickly.

For us, each experience we have is a correction to the pot. Each painful moment is a crack repaired or an imperfection removed. All of our experiences form who we are, and the end result is the disciple that God is designing us to be. He is the potter, and we are the clay.


But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.
Isaiah 64:8

When we realize that these moments of sadness and frustration that come into our lives are simply steps along the way toward what God has designed us for, we can truly say that it’s all good. That doesn’t mean that it’s all painless. That doesn’t mean that it’s all happy. It doesn’t mean it’s everything we want. It does mean that God is working in us and through us to develop us into a people that can withstand the attacks of Satan and come out better on the other side.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Romans 5:1–5

Each trial, each hardship, each loss is another brick in the wall of our lives and is forming us into the person that God wants us to be. When we give our hearts to Christ, he changes them. He makes them new. He takes our hearts of stone and makes them into hearts of flesh.

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
Ezekiel 36:26–27


Instead of living in remorse and brokenness, let’s rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that God is doing something much bigger in us. It’s the experiences that God uses to shape us. He takes us at our worst and develops us into the best versions of ourselves. We don’t need to live with worry and anxiety. We just need to trust that God will work all things to the good.

In the words of the late Bob Marley, “Everything’s gonna be alright.”