Man of Depravity - Tyler Braun's posts on Church Ministry, Worship, Seminary, and Theology.

LifeShare: Bad to Good

2008 September 18

by Tyler

This post is a part of the internet collaboration of LifeShare. Read more about it HERE and HERE.

On Wednesday morning at our staff prayer meeting Barb shared from Ecclesiastes about how we worship and serve a God who turns the worst things into the best things. I think this is a great place for us to start with LifeShare together.

Let me share from my life…

11 months ago I started at Sunset as a janitor. As someone in the midst of starting seminary and having already a Bachelors degree it was very, very humbling at the beginning. I needed the job, but I never imagined graduating from college to a job as a janitor. Yet somehow God knew that it was this low point of my life that would lead me to my current job at Sunset. I never would have pictured it and actually was on a fierce job hunt trying to take matters into my own hands.

At church we sing songs like “Blessed Be Your Name” and “You Never Let Go” and that is all well and good. Yet I think too many of us doubt that God has the power to take our maligned situation in life and turning it into something He will bless! Look at my own life…I doubted God’s ability to provide so I went after job situations which would never have allowed me to continue in seminary. God had a plan that was good incredible. I have been so placed with where I am able to work, serve, and grow.

In the comments I’d love for you all to share a situation in your life that was terrible and God used it for His good purposes. You might even write a post on your blog and join in with LifeShare and then put a link to it in the comments. Take some time and write a comment…I’d really appreciate it.

Writing a comment is easy. Just enter your name, email (which is not shown online, just gives me a way to email you back), and your blog url if you have one (you do not have to put anything in that box). Then type away and press “Submit”. Got it? Awesome!

If you don’t want anyone to know your name feel free to put “Anonymous” as your name. I’m totally cool with that for LifeShare.

Let’s hear it!

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http://worshipcity.wordpress.com/ worshipcity

Oh man that’s incredible. I always hated/loved playing those 2 songs at our church. I always felt like if we could truly even get a glimpse of the reality behind such a powerful song like Blessed Be Your Name that we’d truly have a revival type moment instead of simply singing “you give and take away but my heart will choose to say, Lord blessed be Your name.” Those words are so powerful if we could just rest in that.
My family and I are in the middle of those “take away” times with my brother spending 6 months incarcerated. He’s my younger brother and there’s just a depth of emotions there. Intellectually I know that this is God’s way of providing for my brother. Stepping in before things really got out of control for him. Funny thing is, I had friends in college do everything my brother has ever done except my brother has always gotten caught every step of the way until he finally got sentenced time. I know that God’s got his hand on him even now and this is proof that God cares about him. That He won’t let him completely just ruin his entire life. These 6 months are better than a lifetime in jail or even death. In the middle of it though is just so dark. However, I’m reminded of the hope I have in an almighty God. A hope that is built on the character of God. His unending and faithful love for His people. My brother is a son of God and I know He hasn’t abandoned him or us.
http://telfordia.wordpress.com Aaron

You were my inspiration on what to talk about.

Funny thing was God gave me practice last night talking to this same subject with a friend of mine, so the words came easy.

Here’s the link in case your curious:
http://telfordia.wordpress.com/2008/09/19/lifeshare-bad-to-good/

Have an awesome day, man.