If God loves us so much, why is there so much evil in the world? If God love us so much, why did he give me cancer? Why did he take my mom away in a car accident? If God exists, why..."

I've heard a lot of people say things like this before. It's a legit question to ask, I suppose. Even as a Christian, I think it's easy to fall into the "why?" or "what if?" questions. You may not know why things happen the way they do, but you can know that there's a reason for everything.

Last year, I was in a relationship with someone who seemed so perfect. We enjoyed the same things, had the same sense of humor and he became one of my best friends. The truth is...it wasn't perfect at all. In fact, none of those things came close to being as important as the one thing it was lacking: God.

It hurt to know the person I loved was missing out on the one thing that could satisfy our every need and never let us down. Jesus went to the cross so that we could be set free from our sin and the fact we wouldn't have been able to enjoy that peace together broke my heart.

I got stuck between wanting to stay with him and wanting to make a decision that would be pleasing to God. I've heard the verse about being unequally yoked a thousand times before; I knew our relationship was not built around Christ. I didn't want to let go, but it ended anyway.

I was so hurt. I honestly became very bitter and angry with God after that...but He does some pretty crazy stuff. It's hard to believe He knows what He's doing when things don't go your way. Why would God take something away from me that brought me so much joy? Whether that be your relationship, a family member, your job, or anything else you can think of.

What I learned about my relationship was that God didn't take it away because He doesn't want me to be happy. He took it away because He wants the best for me.. I prayed every single day, and continue to pray that my ex sees his need for Jesus someday. I pray that God will become his Lord and Savior and he'll be able to enjoy a life of no shame or guilt and spend an eternity with the One who created us... but that can't happen if I don't let go.

God is our creator, our Father...He doesn't seek to harm us. But when pain overwhelms you and it feels like your world is crashing around you, He uses that to draw you closer to Him. He didn't pick you up just so you could run back to the same things that knocked you down. He wants you to run to Him.

So instead of dwelling in the past, missing the person I loved, and thinking about what I could've done to prevent the relationship to end, I'm choosing to trust God. I have to trust that the best relationship I've been in so far may not have been with the person I'm going to marry... but He'll have something better.

That's the beauty in pain. The various challenges you are faced with can't even come close to destroying you because of who you are in Jesus. The more obstacles we have to run through, the closer we get to Him. So the next time you wonder why things aren't going your way and it feels like God is out to get you, just remember that He's doing big things in your life. Why else would Satan be trying so hard to distract you from the truth?

"Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." --Romans 5:3-5