It is August 28th, and I find myself thinking about the scripture that has anchored me through so many seasons: Romans 8:28. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. At the end of 2020, I did two things that felt significant to me: I loc’d my hair and I got a tattoo. On my arm are the words “Y sabemos — R8v28.” Y sabemos comes from the Spanish translation of Romans 8:28 and means “and we know.”
At the time, I couldn’t have known everything that would come after that tattoo. I couldn’t have known all the things I would experience, the things I would lose, the things that would change me, or the things I would have to learn to release. But every day, when I lay down and see those words on my arm, I am reminded: and we know.
What I know now is that “working together for good” doesn’t always mean that everything works out the way I wanted it to. Sometimes it didn’t work. Sometimes the answer was no. Sometimes the plan changed. Sometimes life changed. And sometimes I had to become someone new in the process. But I still believe that even if it don’t work, it’s still working for your good.
Romans 8:28 doesn’t require me to understand how every piece fits together; it reminds me to trust the One who does. So today, on 8/28, I can look at the words I placed on my arm almost six years ago and say them with a different kind of knowing. Not because everything has been easy. Not because everything worked the way I thought it would. But because through it all, God has continued to work. Today, it’s working together for good.
