by Crystal Bustamante

Created on: January 24, 2009

How many times have you found yourself wondering what God is doing or questioning Him about the way that He was working in your life? If you are anything like me, and I suspect you are, you have at some point wondered where God was or have questioned His timing when you did not see Him working things out in your life as quickly as you would have liked. I went through a time like this shortly after my children's dad left us and the untimely death of my brother. Things in our lives had changed drastically in just a few short months. That is until I received a wake-up call sort of like a message from God that He knows best, and that even when it is bad, it could be worse yet.

It was a chilly morning in the fall of 2008. I had woken up late and decided to go the grocery store. As I was leaving the house, I ran into a Hispanic lady that I had worked with previously she needed assistance with something. Being the type of person I am, I obliged. After giving the lady a ride to the post office and helping her send a package, I continued on my way to the store.

I wasn't in the store very long, perhaps 15 or 20 minutes; however, when I arrived back at my house, I discovered that the apartment building down the street was in flames they were shooting out of the upstairs window. The fire department had already been called, so all that anyone could do was wait. When the firemen did arrive, it was a half hour after they had been called leaving no hope of salvaging the building.

The apartment where the fire had started was occupied by a single mother and her five children. In reality, they were moving into the apartment that day. They had just gotten ready to go back out the door when they noticed the flames, which were later determined to be the result of faulty wiring.

In the midst of this situation, I found myself standing on the porch of my own apartment building with my mind racing with thoughts regarding the situation that I was living in financial problems, the stresses of being a single mother of three children, the stresses of being in a place where I have no family and many other things. All things that I was unable to comprehend things that had caused me to repeatedly ask God: "why?"

As I am writing this, I am reminded of the scripture in Jeremiah: "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end" (Jeremiah 29:11).

I had only recently come back from Iowa to this place that I had learned

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