All Is Not Well

You who have shown me many troubles and distresses will revive me again. Psalm 71:20 Do you ever get one of those phone calls or emails that you simply don't know how to respond to - reports about friends and family members facing extreme difficulty? Perhaps it's an upcoming surgery or the loss of a job. On occasion it may involve something even much more severe - a relative has been diagnosed with cancer or a friend's child has unexpectedly taken his life. There is a little church on a windswept hillside, in the county of Cornwall on the southwest coast of England, where a section of the front lawn is set apart for a cemetery filled with old, uneven tombstones, many dating back several centuries. One tombstone there has the names of an entire family. Judging from the dates, it seems the mother had died three weeks after giving birth. The child's name, John, also appeared, having died before he turned one. Lastly is the father's name, indicating he had lived not much more than a year after his son's death. Etched beneath their names - in letters you can barely make out - is this simple perspective: "We cannot, Lord, Thy purpose see, but all is well that's done by Thee." Here was a little family that didn't last long but had apparently responded to some tough circumstances with a resilient faith in God. They trusted that God knew what He was doing. So whenever friends and family face problems, remember that little Cornish hillside, where God reminds us that because He is good, "all is well." Pray for the grace to walk through trials with a faith strong enough to still be speaking long after the situation has come and gone. Please comment below or email me directly at curtis.songer@gmail.com