My mood was already down before I received an email requesting prayer for a family member’s difficult situation. I read it, prayed, and closed the email. Back in my inbox, another subject line jumped out at me. The message from a payment service was titled: Disaster Avoidance Exercise.

In part, disaster avoidance makes up a big part of my life. I drive responsibly. I follow rules. I check and double check my work. I line up all my ducks, I try to not put all my eggs in one basket.

Sometimes, it’s all for naught.

No matter what I do, companies close. People lie or mislead. Natural disasters happen. So do accidents. Sometimes a person’s best isn’t good enough.

Before the family situation came up, I was already down over a writing issue. The generic knowledge that sometimes a person’s best isn’t good enough became personal. Maybe my best isn’t good enough. Maybe my writing life is a disaster I can’t avoid.

Delete the phrase “writing life” and insert something important to you in the blank. Do you ever feel that way?

The fact that I’m writing right now and have spent a significant portion of my day on writing projects means that I’m fighting the lie, and I think God is showing me a new truth, pointing me in a slightly different direction with my fiction. I’m sharing a peek at the struggle with you so that you’ll fight your lies, too.

When we are doing our best work in good conscience before God, our best is good enough. Not because of ourselves, but because of our God. The results may occasionally feel discouraging or, occasionally, disastrous, but those results were never in our hands to begin with. We are not in the business of avoiding disasters. We are in the business of chasing Jesus. 

God is still God in the midst of our discouragements. He doesn’t change, and no disappointment, setback, or disaster can foil his good and perfect plans. In fact, what looks like a disaster from our perspective, God is using for the ultimate good. We have nothing to fear.

What initially “disastrous” situation has God used to bring about good in your life?