Fixing Bad Situations

One aspect of my testimony that was reaffirmed at church today is that God can take bad situations and events and make good things come of them. One such example was when Ammon, a Nephite missionary, ran into the king of the Lamanites. The king was not at all pleased that Ammon was in his country, so he attacked Ammon, and a sword fight ensued. Either one of them easily could have been killed, resulting in either the death of a missionary or the apparent assassination of the Lamanite monarch at the hands of an invading Nephite. This was a bad situation, but God was able to turn it around. Ammon won the fight, but spared the king's life, and the king was so impressed at Ammon's mercy that he wanted to learn more about the gospel Ammon was preaching.

Of course, I've left some key elements out of that story, but similar stories happen in our lives from time to time. One of the speakers at church today (or maybe last night) shared the story of a time when he and his sons got lost when hiking. They prayed for guidance, and they were lead to some others who were also lost, and eventually they were all found together.

I, myself, had a mistake turned into a miracle. A few years ago, God took a bad situation that I had accidentally caused and used it to do some good. At the time, I wrote briefly about how God's plan really is foolproof, in that He has plans for either every possibility or the one possibility that He knows is actually going to happen. And His plans always work out for our good, even if we have to go through some rough patches to get there.

I am thankful that God always knows what's happening and what's going to happen, and that He uses that knowledge to help us. His influence frequently turns mistakes into miracles and disasters into masterpieces. With His help, even we bumbling humans can have a hand in shaping events that turn out to have good results. So, when we find ourselves in bad situations, let us try to be patient with God and faithful to Him. We may find that He miraculously turns our bad situation into a good one.