It Had to Happen — And It’s Working for Your Good

A Playlist Inspired Reflection on Necessary Seasons, Intentional God, and the Beauty in Our Cracks

Playlist:

Necessary-Fanstasia

Intentional-Travis Greene

Better Is One Day-Trey McLaughlin

For My Good-Judah Band

There are some storms in life you never see coming—the kind that rearrange you, stretch you, and carve out new places in your soul. I’ve lived through enough of them to know that life has a way of shaping you long before you have the language to describe what happened.

But here’s the truth I want you to hear before anything else:

Nothing you survived was wasted.

Nothing broke you beyond repair.

And nothing caught God by surprise.

Over the years, I’ve carried losses, disappointments, and responsibilities that felt heavier than I could admit out loud. There were seasons where grief set up a permanent chair in my life, seasons where silence did most of my praying for me, and seasons where I was moving through the world with cracks I didn’t want anyone to see.

And through all of that… God kept whispering to me in ways I didn’t recognize at first.

Sometimes it was through Scripture.

Sometimes through people.

And sometimes—more often than I expected—through a song.

Fantasia sang a version of Necessary that found me in one of the darkest years of my life. I didn’t go looking for it. It found me—on commutes, in quiet moments, while running errands, while pretending I was okay.

There’s a line that says:

> “I am who I am today because God used my mistakes.”

And another:

> “He worked them for my good… like no one else ever could.”

At first, I couldn’t receive it.

But after enough life happened—after enough tears dried, after enough nights I held myself together when no one was looking—those lyrics became a lifeline.

Because that’s when I started to understand something I want to pass on to you:

> Some things weren’t meant to destroy you.

Some things were meant to develop you.

Not because the pain was good.

But because God is.

And God wastes nothing.

One day, after hearing the song again, I opened Romans 8 with a different kind of heaviness.

And it felt like Paul was writing straight to the parts of me I never talked about:

The groaning

The waiting

The weakness

The prayers with no words left

Paul didn’t gloss over suffering.

He didn’t pretend faith cancels pain.

He didn’t rush anyone toward a shout.

He simply said:

> “We know that all things work together for good…”

Not all “church things.”

Not all “easy things.”

Not all “things we post about.”

All things.

Even the ones you want to erase.

And maybe that’s where you are today—trying to make sense of a season you didn’t choose, trying to survive something you didn’t see coming, trying to figure out why God allowed a chapter that hurt so deeply.

If that’s you, you’re not alone.

And you’re not off track.

You’re in process.

What I Learned (And What Might Help You See Your Own Story) was:

1. Some things only make sense in hindsight

Not while you’re living them.

Not while you’re crying through them.

Not while you’re trying to smile in public and unravel in private.

Only when you look back do you realize:

That closed door protected you.

That delay prepared you.

That heartbreak matured you.

That loss expanded you.

Sometimes God removes what you thought you needed so He can make room for what you were born for.

2. God was doing more than you realized.

There were long stretches of my life where I thought things were just… happening.

Pain felt random.

Loss felt meaningless.

Disappointment felt personal.

But looking back, I can see God’s fingerprints on things I thought were falling apart.

That’s why Travis Greene’s Intentional hits so differently now:

> “All things are working for my good…

’cause He’s intentional.”

God wasn’t scrambling to fix what I broke.

God was orchestrating what I didn’t understand.

And He’s doing the same for you.

3. Nothing in your life was wasted—God already planned to restore you.

I came across the Japanese art of Kintsugi during a season when I was searching for meaning in the parts of myself that felt unfixable.

Kintsugi takes broken pottery and repairs it with gold.

Not glue.

Not tape.

Not shame.

Gold.

And the vessel becomes more valuable because of the cracks—not in spite of them.

Your cracks are not disqualifications.

Your history is not a liability.

Your wounds are not wasted.

Every fracture in your life is a place where God can pour gold.

And maybe He already has.

4. Everything you survived is preparing you for what’s next.

This part took me years to accept.

I thought survival was the finish line.

I thought healing was the destination.

I thought “getting through it” was the whole testimony.

But God doesn’t stop at survival.

He prepares.

He develops.

He strengthens.

He stretches.

He equips.

Not just for your healing—

but for your purpose.

You didn’t survive all of that for nothing.

There is something on the other side of your endurance.

And the very areas you thought would break you are becoming the places God uses you most.

The Truth I Want You to Leave With

Every melody…

every Scripture…

every truth…

every testimony…

every tear…

every valley…

every silence…

every answered and unanswered prayer…

—all led me to one realization:

> It had to happen.

And somehow… it’s working for my good.

And if that’s true for me,

it’s true for you.

So if you’re reading this in the middle of grief, or transition, or uncertainty…

If you’re reading this with cracks you don’t want people to see…

If you’re reading this trying to figure out why God allowed what He allowed…

lean in for a second:

Your story isn’t over.

Your cracks are being filled with gold.

Your steps are being ordered.

Your purpose is unfolding.

And God has been intentional with every part of your becoming.

You may not feel worthy of it.

You may not always feel ready for it.

You may have moments where you whisper, “Lord… me?”

But God already decided.

He already qualified you.

He already prepared you.

He already planned for every broken piece.

And what He’s getting ready to do next?

It will make every painful chapter make sense.

And listen… this revelation hit me so hard I had to preach it. Literally. I stood in the pulpit at Mt. Lebanon and poured out every piece of this truth — Romans 8, Genesis 50, Jeremiah 29, all of it — because it wasn’t just my story. It was OUR story. But writing it now? This part here… this is for you. For the person still trying to make sense of the breaking, the waiting, the becoming. For the person who’s lived through too much to pretend and survived too much to stay silent. What I preached helped the room — but what I’m writing now is meant to meet you exactly where you are.

To my PastorRev. Dr. Frank Lance, thank you for the push.

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