Earwigs - Moving from Good to Bad to Better

This morning, as my brother and I took down our tents from an overnight camp out we went on, we discovered that a colony of earwigs had taken up residence in the sleeves our tent poles go through. Naturally, the earwigs had to be removed, not only so we could get the bugs out of our tents, but also so the bugs wouldn't get crushed, suffocated, or starved when we rolled our tents up and put them away. The removal was probably an unpleasant experience for the earwigs, especially since we were driving them out of these lovely new homes they had found, but being returned to their natural habitat was far better for them than dying in a pair of rolled-up tents.

We undergo similar transitions more often than we might guess. Perhaps we think we know what's best for us, only to have God steer us away from it. At the time, we may not know God's reasons for moving us, but eventually we did or will learn. When we did/do, we did or will feel to thank God for his wisdom in moving us, even if the transition was an unpleasant one. God knows that a certain amount of pain and unpleasantness is preferable to suffering physical or spiritual death. God is wise and kind to move us from what we want, or think we want, to what He wants for us.

You might be going through a transition or hardship in your life right now. If you are, I want you to know that God has a reason for it, and I want to share my testimony that God's reasons are very good. It may be painful and/or terribly unpleasant now, but the pain won't last forever, yet the blessings God intends for you might. Trust God. Let Him lead you from wherever you are to where He knows you need to be. You may find that the place that God is leading you to is better than anywhere you could have gotten on your own. Jared, the brother of the brother of Jared, had faith in that principle, and acting on that principle resulted in the Jaredites being led from a land that was probably fairly decent, across a wide and stormy sea, to a land that was choice above all other lands (if it's not prejudice of me to say so). God got them to their Promised Land, and He'll do the same for you if you let Him, even though you may have to go through hardships to get there.