Greatest. Ever.

Mara has been talking for months about how she is going to dress up as Tinkerbell for Halloween.

In a beautiful story (which I will unfold in another post), Mara received a butterfly costume today from a complete stranger on freecycle.

I hope I never forget Mara’s response. She told me she was going to thank God for her butterfly costume, and then, with a huge smile and beautiful sparkling eyes, she added, “I wanted a Tinkerbell costume, but God thinked of a plan and said, ‘No, Mara, I’ll give you the greatest butterfly costume ever!'”

Mara couldn’t have been happier.

Simple as they were, her words convicted my heart.

How often do I ask God for “Tinkerbell” [or fill-in-the-blank with my desires] and God decides to give me something else?

Do I recognize that it was God who gave? whether it fulfilled my heart’s longings or was the opposite of what I wished?

Romans 8 tells us that “All things work together for good, to those who are called according to His purpose.” His purpose for His children is two-fold: first, God’s own glory, and second, our Christlikeness. God is often seen as most glorious when we praise Him through suffering. We often reflect Christ most during the hard times of life; He died for us on the cross to show His love; in the same way, we show our love for Christ and others through selflessness and sacrifice.

Sometimes we think what it is “good” for us is what makes us happy or what keeps us healthy (or alive) or what will make us successful or prosperous financially. But “good” in Romans 8 means that which gives God glory and makes us more like our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Since His plans for our lives accomplish both His glory and our Christlikeness, they are as Mara said the “greatest ever.”

God, help me to look at my life and see it as it is: a gift from your hand! From each breath I take to the “big things” in life and all the way down to the Halloween costumes. . . what You give me, Lord, is the Greatest Ever!