GIVE THANKS IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES/IN ALL THINGS GOD WORKS FOR THE GOOD (Yvonne—My One and Only Beloved)
GIVE THANKS IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES/IN ALL THINGS GOD WORKS FOR THE GOOD
By: Yvonne & Paul Lai
Translator: Agnes K Y Tai
My youngest son (Peter) is a mentally-impaired child and was unable to speak much even by age 5 or 6. Apart from facing my own ailment, I had to personally teach him as well. I used picture flashcards to teach him word recognition and also taught him some English.
Whenever there was an incident involving my youngest, a verse would always surface in my heart: “In all things God works for the good of those who love Him.” What we had received would not be counted as good news, yet I knew that God definitely had His pleasant will in it. Thanks to the Lord, He never failed to give me an answer every single time.
When our child was 17, I recall another incident. He really loved listening to Christmas songs and when he brought home from school a cassette that belonged to a classmate, we thought it was an exchange present. A while later the school went so far as to demand our son be removed from the school, and it was then we learned what had really happened. We could only accept the school’s decision at the time. The Education Department however had a good number of meetings with us on this issue and as a result the Education Department made the decision to assign one teacher to accompany him in class and to specifically teach him only. Given that the Government was cutting the budget at all corners, to receive this preferential treatment was indeed a miracle. (Yvonne)
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We are to thank God for good times and bad times, fortune or misfortune, life or death. The Bible tells us to give thanks in all circumstances. Joseph learned this; he should have been disgruntled and complaining about all his mishaps but he did none of that. Conversely, he accepted all calmly and that response was exceptionally valuable. In the end God gave him abundant blessings and through him God bestowed grace upon millions of people as well, myself being one of them. Thanks to the Lord, I’ve got to keep learning. Mrs. Lai was just like Joseph in that each time something horrific happened or when things weren’t going smoothly, especially during Peter’s early years when lots of things happened to him, no matter what had occurred the first line she would utter was: “In all things God works for the good of those who love Him.”
The house we used to live in was not as big as the present one we are in. At the time, for a nice smaller house nearby, we offered over $510,000 but the owner was not willing to sell. As a result, I was a little sad and yet Mrs. Lai said we were to give thanks in all things even though the purchase was not going through, since everything works for the good and therefore God surely had something better prepared for us. Truly, three months later, the value of that old house of ours in Vancouver rose by over $100,000 which was totally unexpected. It turned out to be such a blessing that we did not manage to buy that first house we liked after all, because God wanted to give us something better; something that also originally was completely out of our reach. His blessing was multiplied to us in making a way for the purchase of our current home and for that we continuously proclaim our gratitude to Him. Indeed, I have to learn that kind of pure, simple faith that Mrs. Lai possessed. Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who are the called according to His purpose.” We are to trust and rely on the Lord steadfastly, believe firmly, and giving thanks in all things. (Paul)