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     IT DIDN'T  JUST HAPPEN     

BY ALICE REYNOLDS FLOWER
       
Things don't just happen to children of god.
They're part of a wonderful plan;
The troubles, reverses, the sorrows the rod.
Are strokes of the Great Sculptors hand.

When some dread accident strikes you a blow,
and you worry and fret and demand;
Why try so hard the mystery to know?
Its not just an accident ; it's planned.

Have you been dropped from a place of power?
Do you wonder and reprimand?
Don't rebel, but look to him in that hour;
This didn't just happen; it's planned.

Persecution, tribulation come down like a storm;
friends, disappoint and withstand;
At last, all alone, bewildered, forlorn,
You look, and he smiles: "This is planned."

Do you wonder why God to Affliction should call,
And why you must suffer and moan?
"No man should be moved by affliction," says Paul,
"for you know it is part of a plan."

Did some dear one sicken and finally die?
Did your heart break with anguish and woe?
Did you question your Lord, and cry: "My God, why?"
Don't question---He planned it just so.

Things don't just happen to children of God,
The blueprint was made by his hand;
He designed all details to conform to his Son,
So all things that happen are planned.

No matter what happens to those called "His own."
Events that are awful or grand;
Every trial of your life He sends from his Throne;
Things just don't happen they're planned.