From the Grandson

Hi All,

Today, my son, Brandon, had a project that he had to do for his Bible Class. His had to write, memorize and give a presentation to his class on this topic; “Our Trouble Can Be Opportunities.” He decided to use Dad has one of his people to write about. I am so proud of him and his job, so I want to share it with you. So, today’s post is by my son, Brandon.

Our Trouble Can Be Opportunities

The death of my grandfather is what really inspired me to use the topic “Our Troubles Can Be Opportunities.”

My grandfather, Linzey Broom had cancer for 15 years. When he was first diagnosed, the doctor told him he had 6 months to live. He felt that it was not his time to go and neither did God. After finding this out, it changed his aspect on life and the way he handled situations. He decided that he would try to find the positive in each situation he encountered. He also began to take his relationship with God more seriously and you could tell that God was truly in his life. He influenced everyone around him with his positive attitude, no matter what the situation.

He used his cancer to witness to many people. He witnessed to the doctors, nurses, co-workers, family, and friends. The way he acted was one of the biggest ways he witnessed. If anyone deserved to complain it was him, but not once did he do that. Instead of seeing all the things that were wrong with him, he would look for the things that he had that were good and thank God for them. When someone asked him about his cancer he would tell them how blessed he was to survive it for so long.

After 15 years, and 178 chemotherapy treatments, the Lord took him home on February 25 of this year. In the last days of his life, he really got ready to go home to heaven, but he didn’t just make sure he was ready but also everyone else he saw. He would ask, “Am I going to see you again in heaven,” and he would pray with them.

My grandfather was a great man in every aspect of life. He taught me and everyone else he met how to live and how to die. His cancer was his trouble that he used as an opportunity to witness to others and tell them what God has done in his life. The number of lives impacted by him may not be known to us, but God knows how many lives have been touched.

Joseph is also a great example of someone who used his troubles as opportunities. He was the son of Jacob, and had many brothers. His brothers didn’t like him very much because their father, Jacob, favored him and showed him more love than he did to any of his other sons.

Joseph also had dreams that said that one day his brothers would bow down to him. This made them very angry, so they decided to sell him into slavery. As a result, he was sent to Egypt as a slave. Joseph had many complications in Egypt. He was put in jail for something he didn’t do, but God was always with him. Once he got out of jail, he worked his way up the ranks in Egypt and was second in charge behind the Pharaoh. Joseph had a dream that there would be a famine for many years, so he stored extra food for all of Egypt. When the famine came, Egypt was prepared. When Jacob heard that Egypt had food, he sent his sons to go buy food for his family. When they got to Egypt, Joseph was selling the food and when his brothers came to buy the food he immediately recognized them. But they didn’t recognize him. Before they left he put the money and a gold cup in the bags of food they had bought. Once they had left he sent men to arrest them for stealing the food. When they returned they were put in prison and Joseph told some of his brothers to go bring back his youngest brother and he would believe them and let their other brothers free. When they returned with the youngest brother, Joseph began to cry and he told them who he was. He then told them to go get his father and the rest of his family so that they could live with him in Egypt. This story shows us that God can make our trouble opportunities later down the road. Joseph remained faithful to God during his life and God used him in a mighty way.

God places every hard time or trouble in our life for a reason. 2 Timothy 2:3 says, “Endure hardship with us like a good solider of Christ Jesus”. If we handle the situation right and let God lead us, He will help us through the though times. Many times God will put a trouble or hardship in our life and we don’t understand why. God uses the troubles we have in life as opportunities to make us a better Christian, or to even witness to others about him. When we do have troubles, we should look for what God is trying to do in the situation instead of complaining or blaming God.

My grandfather taught me to praise God in the difficult times of life.

-Brandon Broom