Good or Bad?

A hard lesson that I've been learning recently is that in bad situations, good can be the outcome.  And yes, sometimes it is really hard to believe, patience is required.

This concept has been reoccurring over and over in the past few months. Sometimes in areas of my life that I didn't want to post publicly.  I've had a hard time figuring out to communicate this lesson appropriately for a public blog post.  Finally, I have some stories, I'm willing to share, that seemed pretty bad but have turned out well.

When I was in the states over Christmas, I tried on many wedding dresses, but couldn't find one.  This was fine with me because I knew I could order one online and have it shipped to me.  So that's what I did.  I found an affordable company, one I knew people who ordered from before, found a beautiful dress, inputted custom measurements and submitted my order. The dress came quickly, however was much much too big. Local tailors and seamstresses wouldn't alter it because it would compromise the quality of the dress for various reasons. Unfortunately, one aspect of ordering the dress I failed to consider was the return policy.  It was overly subjective in favor of the business (which ended up being Chinese with limited English communication ability), and I was stuck with a dress that wasn't going to work for me.

I hesitantly decided to have one of the ubiquitous Korean custom-made clothing tailors make a dress for me.  Although, Mr. Kim is an experienced tailor, he isn't an expert in wedding dresses.  I choose a simple design and he started to work.  First, he made a rough draft copy with untrimmed edges and seams on the outside and the length totally off.  When I tried it on, I felt very discouraged and unhappy with my decision. Each time I went back for a fitting, I felt unsure and not confident, because of the unfinished-ness of the dress, the language barrier in communicating, and the cultural mindset of when someone says something can't be done, that's where it ends. Period. End of Story.  I didn't think this dress would work out either, and it'd be two months till my wedding, I'd be out the money of two dresses with nothing to show for it.

It didn't happen, my final fitting was today and I purchased and brought home the dress.  It's wonderful, and I am happy with the final product.  Yes, I still have another dress, but this is where the good comes in.  I used a piece off the first dress on the second to save time and money.  And thanks to one of my friends who has great ideas, Josh and I plan to do a 'trash the dress' photo shoot in the Azores with my first dress (and lots of safety pins)! The first dress isn't a complete waste, and it is pretty cool that I have a custom-made wedding dress!  Oh and I can't forget to mention, Mr. Kim also made all the clothes the groom and groomsmen will wear in the wedding.

Another wedding 'could-have-been-nightmare' was with shipping invitations.  We ordered invitations online with plenty of time for them to arrive overseas and be sent out from overseas and show up at our guests' houses at the expected time according to the wedding time-line checklists. Over six weeks after ordering my invitations, I still had not received them.  The company re-printed the ordered and sent them again.  And they got lost in the mail again. We had our invitations printed and mailed to me four times before one finally showed up!  The second box showed up a week or two later.   It was terrible not knowing what was happening to our shipments, and not being able to do anything about it.  The good part is that we have double to the invitations we need.   And although we can't invite twice as many people as planned, I have made the second batch of invitations into cute stationary with plenty of envelopes!

And my last example of 'bad' situations turning into good is leaving Korea.  I leave in a week and a half to return to the states for a short stint before our wedding and moving to the Azores.  It's hard to leave with many losses to grieve.  I'm going to miss the community here, my ministry and job, the food, and my lifestyle.  But the great part is that I get to marry an awesome guy and start a new life together with him!  This positive outweighs the sadness, but not in a way that dismisses or diminishes what I am leaving behind.

God ordains every action on Earth and is all-powerful.  He allows suffering because in the end it can produce an amazing result that couldn't have been attained without the hurt.  If we weren't broken, it would be hard to imagine how great God's forgiveness, love, grace, mercy and kindness truly are.

God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good!

Let His praise endure forever.


Prayer Requests 

Please pray for me to leave Korea well with no regrets.
Pray as Josh and I transition into our new life together.



PS-  I'll be in St. Louis from the middle of June to the middle of July, hope to see you!