I Was Wrong

I know you are almost as shocked to read those words as I am, but there you have it! A couple of months ago, in this post I wrote this:

Before my husband died of cancer, one of my daughters asked me, "Why would God allow someone like Dad to get something like this?" I could not give her the reason why, and I fully accept that I may never be able to give her an answer--at least in this life. God has not appointed me to his privy counsel, so I do not have access to the answers to questions like that.

I was wrong to say that I don't have access to the answers to questions like that. I have access to one answer, and no, it didn’t involve my appointment to an exclusive committee. It required only a careful reading of the document we've all been given.

It's not the whole answer, but it's part of it, and it's an important part of the whole:

And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose, because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. (Romans 8:28,29)

Every single thing that happens to me is accomplishing a good purpose: it is working out my predestined conformity to the image of the Son. All things work together for good purposes because through all circumstances I am being remolded into someone who can be a sister to my Saviour. The trials of this life (and the not-so-difficult things, too) are creating a family resemblance in all of us who are God's own.

So, how would I reword my answer to my daughter's question? I would say something like this, "God has allowed Dad to get sick partly because He is reworking us all--you, me, and Dad, too--into the sort of people He wants us to be. The process is a difficult one, but we know the outcome is a good one: we will become more like the perfect first-born Son."