This past weekend my husband and I went to the Hills Alive festival for the first time. Usually, this weekend is full for our family and we’ve missed it every year since we moved out to the Black Hills eight years ago.

We spent the days relaxing, listening to fantastic music, and spending time together. Expanding my music is something I have always enjoyed because of my eclectic tastes. I had no idea the weekend would totally change my thinking about my life.

Saturday night, the lead singer from Building 429 said something profound that I had to let sink into my heart. He said,”Setbacks are just setups for the Lord to do something extraordinary in your life.”

Wow! What a statement! It made me think back to all the times in my life where things were difficult but then turned out to me something much greater.

When I was in 8th grade, I was just starting to grasp the concept of dating and liking the opposite sex. I was very naive and there was a guy in my class that liked me. Well, to make a long story short, my father steered me straight. I didn’t like it one bit. By the end of that year, I found the love of my life and we would have missed each other if my parents just let it slide.

Every night when we would go to sleep, we would recite our vows and pray to God to give us children when He saw fit. After years of in fertility we were finally pregnant. Unfortunately, after four months, I had a miscarriage. We were devastated and heartbroken. We were angry with God as to why He would do that to us. The following year, we had our first of three sons and have rejoiced and are proud of everything they have become.

Eight years ago I started a new adventure of being a middle school teacher. I questioned my decision since I was an elementary teacher for 15 years in a Catholic school. It was scary. I was never a teacher in a public school setting either. Roughly five days before school was to start, I was to teach Reading to eighth graders and Computers to fifth through eighth-grade students. I had no materials for either subject. I basically had to pull my lessons out of thin air.

I was sitting in my classroom crying. How am I supposed to do this God? I have no materials, I know no one, this is all new to me! I can’t do this!!! Then, a sweet voice came into my room. “What’s wrong? How can I help? It was my school next door neighbor who saved me. Because of that day I have grown to LOVE my job and have gained a truly good friend because of my setback.

Look back on your life. Think about the difficult times in your life and what happened after. It’s all about timing. Not our timing, but God’s timing. His hand is right there guiding you through the storm into something better on the other side. It may be difficult, the journey may be long, but it will be so worth it in the end.

If you are going through something difficult right now, stay the course, trust in God, and he will pull you through it. it’s just a setup for something much greater.