Angry at Dolly Parton

With her passing this week a childhood memory of Dolly came to mind that I haven't thought about in many years. In 1967 when Dolly was just about to "Hit the big time" our family was on a long vacation. We were staying a few days with relatives in Flushing Ohio. My Uncle Johnny was a well-known local musician and while we were there, he and my Aunt Helen went out with my parents to hear Uncle Johnny play. My sister Patti and I had just gotten some novelty hats at one of the theme parks and the hats had fake neon-colored patches on them. Our parents took them with them that night and I am not sure why they did however when they returned with the hats the next morning someone had "scribbled" on the patches and it made me very angry. I was so upset I went complaining to my Daddy, that someone had ruined our hats. I am sure you figured out by now from the title of this message, that the "scribbling" on the patches was actually Dolly Partons signature just before she hit it big. I can only imagine what those hats might be worth if we still had them today but sadly, they disappeared long ago. Sometimes God does things in a way that we do not understand and in fact may even make us very bitter and angry. What we forget oftentimes is that His ways are not our ways and His thought are not our thoughts. I am reminded of Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. We may not understand what He is doing just like I did not recognize the value of a signature but, in time His plan will be revealed, and we can be assured there is some benefit for us in the situation if we seek hard enough to discover what it is. Perhaps you have had a similar situation where the thing you were upset about became a valuable lesson or benefit to you that you did not realize until much later. I encourage you to share it with others here on LIVEHIM. Testimonies are most valuable when they are shared with others. What is your testimony?