I am sure everyone has heard the phrase, "All things work for good..."  However, that is not a true statement.  All things do not work for good.  It's sweet.  It's emotional.  It may even be comforting.  But when you quote something from the Bible, you can't take five words off the front end of a sentence and make a new rule.  You have to take the entire sentence.  The entire verse.  Which is:

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose."  Romans 8:28

People tend to leave out is the word "together."  Which implies something more is involved.  And something more is involved.  Two particular things.

The first is:  If you want things to work together for good, you must be a person who truly loves God.  Otherwise, you are wasting your time.   The verse says that,  "All things work together for good to them that love God.   You have to be a member of His family to claim that verse.

And the second condition for things to work together for good is:  You must be called according to His purpose.  Which means that what you want may not be what He wants.  The Bible session on Sunday was about Purpose.  God has a purpose for your life.  He created you for a reason, and has a plan for you.

His plan for me was to be a teacher of the Bible.  There has never been any doubt in my mind about that.  Along the way, I got to do a lot of other wonderful, joyful things--marry Ken, have children, teach mathematics, play the piano and marimba, and garden.  But I never confused those things with my main purpose.  Which is to be prepared to share what the Bible has to say to us.

 I have memorized the verse in 1 Peter 3:15 which says:  "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear."