Talk About A Bad Day

Today, Grace Fellowship held a special Korean Night where we ate Korean food, played games and sang Korean songs. The kimchi-jjigae was delicious and the songs were festive, yet I noticed one of the Thai students walking in late with a dejected look on her face. She is one of the new believers and is usually happy, present at all the meetings and enjoys singing all the songs. But today, she ate in the kitchen, didn't participate in the games and sat in a corner sadly drifting away into her thoughts.

So afterward I went up to her and asked how she was doing.
(In Thai)
"How was your day?"
"Good."
"I don't believe you. You look sad. What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"I don't believe you, something happened today huh?"

She finally let down her wall of solitude and with her eyes glistening shared with me about a horrible day. Things like not liking her school situation. Having go to some far location to do her field studies. Waiting for an hour to catch a songtaew (taxi truck) and then paying a ridiculous 100 baht for the ride (usually around 30).
(There was some more I couldn't catch because it was in Thai.)

After the night ended, I chatted with her through Skype and she asked me, "Why?" "Why would God allow this?" "What is God's plan?"

(Now this is the same girl who excitedly shared with me about how her sister had an experience of praying to God to find her lost keys. She's shared with me before about how when she was not yet Christian, she came to believe there was a God because she prayed to Him and He answered.)

My answer to her question:
"I'm happy for you."
"Why?"
"Now that you have been Christian for a little bit and learned about God more, when things like this happen and you have bad days, these are the times when God really becomes precious and beautiful. These are the times when things don't go right, but you know God is good. It's in times like these you grow more, you trust God more, you love God more."
"But I still want to know why? I wonder about his plan."
"Sometimes God tells us why, sometimes He doesn't. But he does promise us in his word that He will do all things for the good of those who have been called according to his purpose. Sometimes God does things that may not seem good to us but is ultimately for our greater good. One day you will look back and understand why God did this or allowed that to happen."

(During the Korean Night, we watched a youtube video of a Korean woman who had suffered massive 3rd degree burns, permanently disfiguring her appearance, yet still praising God and thanking Him for her life.)

"After I saw that video, I realized the things that happened to me are so small. I feel good about my decision to come to Grace Fellowship tonight."
"Yeah, maybe God wanted to show you today that even in our worst days, when we think of what Jesus did on the cross, it's really not that bad. Jesus had a REALLY bad day, you know what I mean?"
"Yeah, that's why the thing that happened to me today is so small if I compare it to what happened to Jesus. I need read the Bible more to answer what his purpose is."


It's amazing how our big, daunting, depressing, hopeless, terrifying situations and circumstances become small, insignificant, and trivial when we come to His word and read about our mighty, powerful and sovereign God who holds out his amazing promises of joy and peace that transcends all understanding.

Psalm 73:26 "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."