What if your problem is not really your problem? What if your problem is an opportunity for everyone to see how good God is? 

I finished reading three books in the last few days. This is not braggadocious behavior on my part. I started reading one of those books in January. One of them was short enough to read in less than two hours. The other is James Scott Bell’s latest in his Mike Romeo series, _Romeo’s Rage_. If you don’t know this author or his books, you will thank me later for the introduction. Start with _Romeo’s Rules_ and see what you think.

Good novels have problems. If there is no problem, there is no story. Your story has problems. Every person has problems. What’s your story? What’s your problem?

We observe people with problems all the time. We see their stories on display and are sometimes invited to participate in them. Sometimes their problems become our problems, or they become our opportunities to help them experience God’s grace, mercy, and love. 

Sitting across from me on the first row of seats behind first class was a man in pajamas and a knit cap. He looked like the kind of man who sleeps on park benches. He was on his way to see someone. Someone paid his fare to get him from one place to another. He wasn’t sure how things worked onboard an American Airlines flight. He was confused why they took his bag and placed it in the cargo hold. 

After another recent flight, a man in the men’s room was holding a cigarette and asked another man for a light. The other man worked at the airport and clearly and straightforwardly explained the rules about smoking in airports which basically amounted to Don’t. Their conversation became agitated before the airport worker gave a final command and left. 

The man with the cigarette then explained to me why he needed a smoke. He had taken his first-ever flight and was still shaking from the experience. He needed something to calm his nerves. We discussed his plight for a while. We parted not long after he asked if he could buy a cigarette lighter in one of the airport stores. He thanked me for listening to his story. He said, “You’re a nice guy.”

Everybody has a story. What’s yours?

Everybody has a problem they wrestle with. Again, what’s yours?

Every problem, you may have heard, is an opportunity. The man in John 9 had a problem, it was clear to see. He couldn’t see. He had never seen. And then right in the middle of a theological discussion, Jesus declared this man did not have a problem, but instead an opportunity. The man born blind (problem) was given the gift of sight (opportunity). 

What does your problem make possible? What does the solution to your problem make possible? How do you pray about your problem? How do you seek help for your problem?

Wherever you are in your story, whatever problem you wrestle with, God is at work in you to declare his glory to a watching world. God is at work in you to help other people get their stories straight. God is at work in you to help others see how good he is. 

Your problem is not your problem alone. It is an opportunity to declare God’s goodness. Live your life today with this transformative perspective. Invite God to show his glory through your story.

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I will invite our Father in heaven to declare his glory through my story.

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