Penny in the Gutter

Gutters are wet and uncomfortable, and stepping or tripping into
one is very unpleasant, but when you find a penny there,
it's a nice, small bright side to the situation, right?

    Life is good--but as we all know, it doesn't always go well. Sometimes unfortunate things happen; disappointments that bring us down. Sometimes multiple disappointments happen all at once, and that kind of discouragement can really make a person feel ill.
    But thankfully, God is in our lives, so there's always good reason to have hope. He's promised that since we've let Him be our Lord, everything that happens to us happens for a reason (Romans 8:28). And because of that assurance, we can also trust that we'll never be in a situation where there's nothing but disappointment and failure. In every low and dark place, there's going to be a bright side. In every huge mistake, there's a lesson that'll help us avoid getting back in the same situation. And in every disappointment, there's always a hope that God will use it to bring about something good.
    It might really be difficult to hold onto that kind of optimistic thinking when one's actually going through problems, but it is true. I've recently just had a time where I got hit by one discouragement after another after another, and though I definitely wasn't confident that the problems would just disappear, understanding that God is in control and wouldn't let everything just be a disappointment was a real anchor to hold to. Soon after calming down, I realized that all of those discouragements had actually opened the door to an awesome (and rare) opportunity that otherwise would have stayed closed. And realizing the blessing that was made available was like finding a bright, round, precious penny in a gutter. Something really good came out of the bad situation, and it's something that'll last a lot longer.
    So while discouragements we have to face in life aren't easy to ignore at all, there's still a sure hope that bad situations don't have to be all bad. The Lord is our God, and He has a talent of using difficulties to create good, amazing things.
    That's such an awesome, comforting thing to be able to hold to. Amen?