“It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.” -Psalm 119:71
In reflecting back on my testimony which I have shared here over the last two weeks, one recurring theme seems to jump out to me. It is the same idea being expressed here by the psalmist, that all that has happened to me, self-inflicted or not, has served to turn me more and more to the Word of God. Every major frustration or struggle in my life so far has seen as its eventual end a thrusting of myself closer and closer to God. Beginning with my parents divorce, through my multiple bad relationships, and even into the the recent depression at being removed from the comforts of home, every time God has seen me afflicted he has used that as occasion to bring me nearer.
I recall that this thought provided great comfort to me as a child, knowing that if my parents had not split then my mother would not have dated that guy, and I would not have gone with his son to the church camp where God granted my salvation. To see the anger and embarrassment and turmoil of my parents divorce and how God used this to redeem me for eternity, it truly embodies for me Genesis 50:20 where Joseph tells his brothers “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” Satan meant it for evil that I would be devastated in heart and spirit by the disintegration of my family, yet God used it for good that I may be saved. And so truly today I can proclaim that it has been good for me that I was afflicted!
Posted by Todd Burus 
