A New Season

SEASONED REFLECTIONS . . .

AL: When I look back at the difficult beginnings our family endured—from Mom’s getting pregnant at sixteen to Dad’s wild, irresponsible ways—I am grateful that God saw the big picture all along. He always knew those bad situations were temporary. He had complete confidence that He would lead us through, and eventually out of, the circumstances that threatened to destroy my dad as a person, my parents’ marriage, and our life as a family. The enemy had a plan to ruin us, but God had a plan to save us, redeem us, and bless us.

Even though my parents did not go to church, God reached out to all of us by reaching out to me through this couple.

I believe God was working in our family when we did not even know it. We had no clue when we moved to Junction City that the Laytons would be our neighbors and that God would use them to connect us to Himself. Even though my parents did not go to church, God reached out to all of us by reaching out to me through this couple. He had planted a seed of faith in our previous generations, but it was not deeply rooted or growing by the time I came along. So He watered and nourished that seed in me as a child. Over a period of years, that seed of faith took root and began to flourish in our family. Now our faith is the most important aspect of our lives, and all of us are walking with God—even my dad, who once seemed the least likely person in the world to become a Christian.

No matter what we were going through, God had a plan for our family. First and foremost, He had a plan that would eventually bring each of us into a personal relationship with Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ. Second Peter 3:9 says that God is not willing for anyone to perish, which means He wants to bring every person on earth into a personal relationship of salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ. That included my parents, my brothers, and me—and it includes you.

Eventually, God’s big-picture plan for our family also included reconciliation between my parents, who now enjoy a wonderful, loving marriage. It involved great relationships among what is now a big extended family, as well as a position of influence through a television show—the last thing we could have ever imagined doing when we got kicked out of Arkansas.

Little did I know when we left Junction City that we would ultimately end up in West Monroe, Louisiana, a place where God would literally change our lives. Even though I faced hardships as a teenager—due to my own bad choices—and heartbreak as a young husband and father, I can say with conviction that God has been with me through every difficulty. Starting from the day I was born, God has turned the most bitter situations sweet. The journey has not been easy, but it has been rich and has now brought me to a place of happiness, peace, and the greatest love I’ve ever known.

When I think about what could have happened to my family and to me during those rough periods when I was young, I think about Romans 8:28: “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” For sure, not everything we went through was “good.” Some of it was very, very bad. But I can see now that God did work all of it together—using each experience as a part of a greater whole—to do something redemptive in our family.

If you or someone you love is going through a situation that seems hopeless, if things are so bad that it seems they can never be good—have hope. I am living proof that bad beginnings can lead to happy endings. God has a big picture in mind for your life, just as He did for my family and me all those years ago. Stay close to God, persevere through the hard times, and believe life can be better—and pretty soon it will be.