If you’ve been told that your pain is because God is trying to teach you a lesson, think about this:

…the goodness of God leads you to repentance. Romans 2:4

Yup, it’s true. If God is trying to get your attention, He uses the good stuff to do it. I suppose it’s something like  “you catch more bees with honey than vinegar”.

Do you think the Creator of the Universe is confined to a lesson?  That He sits in Heaven just waiting for you to slip up so He can whack you? Or lecture you? Never!  He is going to reveal His powerful love in the brilliance of the clear night sky, the delicate petals of purple tulips, or one of those really, really big snowflakes that seems to fall in slow motion.

All around us the earth points to a God who loves variety, color, texture, and fragrance!  His desire is for you to be mesmerized by his world and see Him in it. And if that isn’t enough, He knows how to bring goodness to your life. No matter where you are in the world, there is some kind of goodness that He bestows upon people.  The child in a war-torn country chases a butterfly. He has little and may surely be hurting, but manages a smile . The tired soldier, far away from home, smiles as he watches an army of ants carry crumbs three times their size to the nest.

Even in the midst of hardship, a smile can happen.

God is bigger than anyone’s opinion. His love is unconditional.