Recently in July, 2003, while Kathleen and I were ministering in prison with Alpha Prison Ministries at Carson City Correction Facility, outside of Carson City, Michigan, (a place that God is so powerfully touching lives, as He is in various prisons around the country because it’s such a fertile harvest field), I had the privilege to minister to a brother who has been in prison now for 13 years.  The brother shared with me that prior to being sentenced to prison for far too many years for the crime he committed, he and his wife had been used mightily of God to minister to others.  In their faithfulness to God’s call on their lives, temptation knocked on his wife’s door, and his wife fell into sin by having an affair with another man.  The brother sought God to cause his wife to stop the affair and let their marriage become whole once more, but his wife kept staying unfaithful to him.  At a weak moment, he consumed more alcohol than what he was able to deal with, and committed a crime that he probably would not have committed otherwise had he not been drinking so heavily. 

The brother was not bitter or complaining as he shared this story with me, and he did so in this manner:   

“Brother Norm, why do you think God has allowed this to happen in my life?  I was being obedient to God in our marriage; I was ministering to others as God opened doors and gave opportunity.  Yet in a weak moment of frustration when my wife was cheating on me, I committed a petty crime and got caught at it, and now I not only don’t have a wife, I also have four children I can’t be a normal father to either.   I’ve asked God a million times why He allowed this all to happen and I never seem to get an answer.  I just wish I knew why God allowed this all to happen.  It just makes no sense to me … does it you?”

The precious brother asked one of the most difficult questions that each of us ask ourselves to one degree or another as we walk with the Lord: “Why, Lord, are you allowing this to happen?  I’m not aware that I’ve sinned to any degree that I should have to suffer like this?”

As I prayed silently that the Lord would give me the right answer for the moment to give the brother, this is what came to my spirit and I felt impressed that the Holy Spirit wanted me to deliver it to him:

“You are here because of God’s wisdom and will be rewarded for your faithfulness to Him for it.”

I seriously question if that made the brother feel much better at the moment, but my prayer is that he will one day come to realize that either God is in control of each of our lives or He isn’t, no matter how much evil has visited us. 

Perhaps you are faced with a situation that seems as evil and as unfair as anything you could imagine happening to a person.  Perhaps you feel you’re a victim of circumstances and possibly evil that a “loving God” should just never allow to happen to one of His children.  Perhaps you almost even feel betrayed by God.  Many people have experienced that this year, and in seeking God for understanding as to how we are to deal with it, here’s all I’m able to hear from the Lord when it happens: 

“Don’t let bitterness, resentment or anger control you, but rather, believe that in My wisdom and limitless power, I am working good out of the situation you find yourself in.  Stay faithful to Me, and you will be rewarded for it.”

We each have God’s assurance from Romans 8:28-29 that God is “working all things to our good, if we stay faithful to Him,” don’t we?  No matter how many bad choices I’ve made, God assures me that He’ll work good in my life if I’ll stay faithful to Him.  Exactly what possible “good” could that be?

If a person is sentenced to life in prison for a crime he or she didn’t commit – is it impossible for God to conform that person to the image and likeness of Jesus Christ while in prison?   If my spouse has cheated on me and now I find myself single, lonely and poor, is it impossible for God to conform me into His likeness?  If evil seems to be my daily cross to bear, is it impossible for God to shape me into the likeness of Jesus Christ?  For most of us, I have to believe the most difficult scripture to cuddle up with as a bedtime teddy bear is found in Romans 8:16-18:

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.  For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Precious born again saint, through the enablement of God’s Spirit, fast forward your life to a future time when you will be able to look at yourself in a mirror and see a transformed creation of God’s making beyond your wildest imagination!  Look closer at that glorified body God will transform you into.  I have a witness in my spirit that you will be given the ability to then understand how all the physical and emotional sicknesses and diseases you suffered, the unjust situations you found yourself in, the times of having little or nothing when others had so much, the times of being outright persecuted for your faith when you had done nothing wrong but confess Jesus as your Lord and Savior, the all-encompassing adversities that life handed you … you will stand there in utter dismay at how God used all of life’s painful things to help fashion the glorified body He has rewarded you with.    What can we say to all this but “Wow! How truly great this Salvation is, and is going to be!”

If you would like to read Norm's born again testimony, you can click on this link:  http://precious-testimonies.com/BornAgain/L-N/Norm.htm