Romans 8:28 says that all things work together for good. All things. That means bad things work together for good. Bad things happen to Christians. I didn’t say, “Bad things happen to good people,” because no one is a good person, really. I’m writing all this to say that you should expect bad things. A major difference between unbelievers and believers is their response to bad things. Believers know that all the bad things still work together for good. That’s their faith in God. He’s wise, loving, and good. He knows what He’s doing and He does see everything from a timeless perspective. What seems bad at the time actually is good. It is. And then we have a lot of passages about this, to help us out. James 1 comes to mind. These are trials of our faith and they work good things into our lives, like patience. They have a perfecting, completing work, like the finish work inside a house. When the house looks messy during the work, the dust and dirt and clutter, it doesn’t seem like it could be for good, but we know then that it is. The work is going on for good, even if in the short term it looks messy. I write this so that we come to grips with these events in our life and respond like a Christian—even something that occurs with people in the church. People shouldn’t treat you poorly, but when they do, God will use that too for your good. Let’s believe it.