Thank God for...Root Canals?

So the other day, I was feeling bad enough to actually call around for dentists that perform the task of root canals. That same day in chapel, Dr. Robert Smith, who happens to be the best preacher I think I have ever heard, was preaching on Romans 8- From Groaning to Glory. In passing, the Doctor mentioned that in verse 28, the things that happen to us are not necessarily good things. They are more than inconvinences or stubbing our toes (and probably root canals and tooth pain for that matter)- the suffering that we endure is turned into good because God has his plan for his people. He loves us and has a difficult plan for our lives, as we like to say at Tapestry.

So as I sat getting my root canal, I began thinking about what it means that in all things we have a God who is working these things out for his glory and our good. Pain is never inherently a good thing but we have a radically good and powerful God who stops at nothing to see that we are going to be more than conquerers.

Because of these truths, I did something a bit strange. I thanked God for my root canal. I know it sounds really pious and maybe a bit stupid but here's why its really neither: God is working my root canal for his glory and my good. If He is not the God who can work a root canal and financial stress and greek paradigms and arrest warrants out for our good, how can we possibly trust him? Our God has made us more than conquerers- we share in glory with Jesus Christ Himself!!! Thank God for my root canal!!