Dear God,
I found a powerful prayer. Not the kind you rush through before meals or the kind you whisper absent-mindedly before sleep. This one deserves a pause, a deep breath, and a moment of reflection.
“Everything work together for your good.” Dad, say Amen… (Oh, sorry. I forgot I am supposed to be the one receiving the prayer)
Amen. What a prayer!
Honestly, the more I think about this prayer, the more I realise how dependent our lives are on “things” working together. “Everything” …. Not some things. “Everything”.
We wake up every morning believing we are in charge because we have calendars, plans, alarms, spreadsheets, strategies, meetings and five-year plans. We say things like, “I have everything under control.”
Really? Let me tell you a story.
I had to take my son to school, and we were waiting for his student visa. Eventually, the approval came. Wonderful! We sent his passport for stamping through a courier service. We paid for the two-way delivery, followed the process, submitted everything and began tracking it.
And everything was going beautifully. The passport arrived at the visa centre. It was processed. It was stamped. It was returned. The courier company picked it up. We could see the tracking updates. We knew when it had been collected. We knew the expected delivery date. We had booked our flights; our bags were packed. Everything was aligned. What could go wrong?
You know that feeling when you have done your part and now you are simply waiting for life to behave? Exactly. Then one small cosmic screw turned. The courier man picked up the package and delivered it to a wrong address.
That was it. One human error. A total stranger in a wrong address. One apparently insignificant mistake. And suddenly, our carefully arranged plans were hanging by a thread.
We had a 7 a.m. flight the next morning. It was already evening and by 7:30 p.m., we still did not have the passport. My sister, who had been waiting all day, had barely eaten. We were calling courier stations, chasing tracking information, trying to locate a package that had somehow disappeared into the labyrinth of logistics.
At that point, nobody cared about sophisticated systems. Nobody cared about corporate processes. Nobody cared that the tracking system said “delivered.” We needed one small piece of paper to physically find its way back into our hands.
And suddenly I understood something; Our lives are not as independent as we imagine. We are all connected and inter-connected to people we don’t even know.
Our outcomes are connected to decisions we didn’t make. Our success sometimes depends on someone else’s competence. Our safety can depend on another person’s alertness. Our opportunity can depend on someone answering an email. Our journey can depend on someone remembering to press “send.” And sometimes, our miracle is simply that somebody else decided to do their job well.
Eventually, by God’s grace, we traced the package at another station. We drove there. It was a Friday and the station was almost closing. We arrived with only minutes to spare. And then came another miracle.
The woman behind the counter listened to our story, left her position, walked into a warehouse filled with packages and began searching for our own. Imagine that.
She could have said, “Sorry, we close at this time.” She could have pointed us to Monday. She could have decided that our emergency was not her emergency. But she didn’t. She searched and searched, until she found it.
When my sister finally saw the passport, she burst into tears. Not because it was just a passport, because she understood what almost happened. One person’s mistake had almost affected an entire journey.
A child could have missed resumption. Flights could have been cancelled. Money (in thousands of USD) could have been lost. Plans could have collapsed. And all of it was triggered by something as ordinary as a courier man dropping a package at the wrong address.
Hmmm, everything will work together for your good, Say Amen!
Dad, I drove home that evening thinking about how fragile life actually is. We like to believe that our lives are solid. But sometimes we are living inside a beautifully arranged house of cards. Check this out……
That project depends on the client saying yes. The client depends on the board approving the budget. The budget depends on the economy behaving itself. The economy depends on policies, markets, currencies and things nobody in the meeting can control.
That booked flight depends on the weather. That journey depends on the driver. The surgery depends on the surgeon being alert. The exam depends on the lecturer showing up. That business depends on customers paying. That career depends partly on a manager recognising your contribution. That marriage depends on two imperfect people repeatedly choosing wisdom over pride. The outcome of your child’s growth depends on parents, teachers, friends, neighbours and an entire environment we cannot completely control.
Then suddenly, you beat your chest and say, “I made it by myself,” “Yes, I did it” …. sounds a little funny, right?
Nothing in this life exists independently – Nothing. There are too many invisible hands in our story. There are people who opened doors. People who gave us opportunities. People who prayed for us. People who showed up. People who made one good decision at the right time and even people who made one terrible decision at the wrong time.
And, above all, there is grace. Grace is what fills the gaps between what we can control and what we cannot.
That evening, I realised something else. Sometimes we call Grace “luck” because we don’t recognise mercy. Sometimes we call it “coincidence” because we don’t recognise providence. Sometimes we say, “I was just fortunate.” Maybe.
But what if some of the things that didn’t happen were also grace? What if the accident that never happened was grace? The betrayal that never reached your door? The person who almost harmed you but changed their mind? The business deal that collapsed and later turned out to be protection? The flight you missed that saved you from something you will never know? That job you didn’t get that could have destroyed your peace?
We celebrate the things that worked out. But perhaps we should pay attention to the things that didn’t work out because heaven is also full of things that could have gone wrong…… but was prevented. We just didn’t know about them.
And that humbles me, because, Dad, we really are not in control. I know we like to think we are.
We can control our schedules, but we don’t control traffic. We can control our preparation, but we don’t control the examiner. We can control our decisions, but we don’t control the decisions of everybody around us. We can plan the journey, but we cannot command the wind.
And this is why this prayer suddenly became so powerful to me: Everything will work together for your good. Say Amen with me.
Please pay attention…… this is not about “May everything happen according to your plan.” No. Or, “May nothing ever go wrong.” No.
But may everything work together for your good, because some things will go wrong. Definitely. Some people will disappoint you. Some doors will close. Some plans will wobble. Some courier men will apparently have a PhD in wrong addresses.
But no matter the cosmic effect that tilts your agenda, May God take every scattered piece and make them part of a good story we could never have designed ourselves.
So today, I pray differently.
May the people that are connected to your destiny all align for your good. Amen.
May the decisions made in rooms where you are absent favour your future. Amen
May the stranger carrying something important for you handle it with care. Amen.
May the driver taking you somewhere arrive safely. Amen
May the person responsible for your opportunity remember your name. Amen.
May the person with the power to help you have compassion. Amen.
May the market cooperate with your business. Amen.
May the economy give you breathing space. Amen
May the weather respect your plans. Amen.
May the systems you depend on work seamlessly. Amen
May the people you depend on be dependable. Amen.
And when they are not, may Grace step in, because we need people, and we need systems, and we need timing, and we need circumstances, and we need favour, and we need mercy.
And, whether we admit it or not, we need you, God.
So, Dad, today I am not asking for a life where everything goes perfectly. I am asking for something greater.
When the pieces scatter, put them together. When one door closes, make another one visible. When someone’s mistake threatens my journey, send me an angel with a warehouse key. When circumstances turn against me, turn the outcome around. And when I cannot see how the story will end, give me enough faith to keep walking.
Because now I understand this prayer; “Everything will work together for your good.”
And I say a big AMEN!
This is your daughter, Lord, I am checking in.
