All Things Means All Things

I’ve had so many people tell me that they are “glad my life has worked out the way it has.” Thanks. I am too.
However, if I am going to be honest with you, I have to be the first to say how things haven’t “worked out for me” randomly. It is God who has worked things out for me purposefully.
Nothing I am doing today has happened overnight, the same way a 100-meter sprinter doesn’t win his race in those 10 seconds of running. The victory for the sprinter began with a rigorous daily regimen.
It was the long process of training and pressing, resting and stretching. Those “10 seconds or less” are just the tangible evidence of years of hard work and discipline.
Likewise, prison for me wasn’t a walk in the park, but more like a healthy regimen of going to the gym. What I mean by that is that it was a daily working out of my salvation with serious thought – “Therefore my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12) – and training myself in the Word of God from a serious heart – “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (II Timothy 2:15).
It was one day at a time for 55 months in the midst of the most vulgar and immoral environment one could ever find themselves in. It was rising before the crack of dawn and cracking open my Bible.
It was skipping my daily breakfast so I could ‘break-fast’ from a short night’s rest with the Word of God. It was a daily renewing of my mind and staying it on the power and sovereignty of God over dwelling on what my circumstances and senses were screaming at me.
Scriptures such as Romans 8:28 encouraged me to take my grip off of my circumstances, which made room for the hands behind this truth to put His grip on me – “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
And “all things” really does mean “all things.” No matter what those things look like, even the dark things in life, like death and destruction, God still works ‘all things’ into His perfect plan. We may not agree with such ingredients, but that doesn’t stop God from choosing them, using them, and transforming them.
My life truly cannot be explained without running into grace. Meaning, I would not be where I am today, doing what I am doing today, without God’s plan having its perfect way… in spite of me.
The sprinter’s performance is the end result of what he was training for. It’s a perfect illustration of the reward of diligence.
Couple that with training under the tutelage of the master instructor who works all things for good to those that love Him and are called according to His purpose. And then you will know the miracle of God’s grace, God’s perfect time, and that all is performed by God’s design. 
ED. NOTE: Maher is the teaching pastor at Coastal Christian Ocean City and is president of Soldiers For Faith Ministries. Social Media and website: @TruthOverTrend