Back in the 60’s, America had a real struggle.  JFK, RFK and MLK all killed. Civil Rights. The Viet Nam War. Hippies. Marches. Shootings. I was there.  I experienced it.  Multiple layers of struggle, over and over.  Married pregnant.  Dropped out of college.  Got drafted. On orders for ‘Nam.  Child with birth defect.  Shame. Anger. Fear. Pain.  But God delivered us from it all.

What is the moral of this story?  There are several morals.  One is that though we often don’t understand what is happening or why, God really is working all things together for good to those who love Him. (Romans 8:28)  Another moral is that even though we do inexplicably stupid things that get us into worlds of trouble, God uses those specific events to teach us wonderful lessons and draw us closer to Him and to each other.

And what about the moral that some of us, maybe most of us, never really trust God, and call on Him for deliverance from all our self-imposed difficulties until we have nowhere else to go; how God loves us anyway, and comforts us, and protects us, and fixes our lives for years to come, and takes care of us “exceeding abundantly above all we could ask or think, by His power that is at work within us;” (Ephesians 3:20); because we finally came back home, hat in hand, and trusted Him.