This may be the strangest revelation I’ve ever had, but it just dawned on me that sometimes God makes His children eat their veggies.

I know what you’re thinking: “That Rebekah. I always knew she was strange, but it looks like she’s finally snapped.” Well, before you unsubscribe and click that little red “x” in the corner, let me ask you this: Doesn’t God want what is best for His children?

It seems to me that, just as a parent would offer a spoonful of greens to a reluctant toddler, God often puts things on our plates that make us think twice about His goodness. But anyone who wants God’s best for their life has to learn to eat their veggies.

I’ve been reading the book of Job lately. If you think you’ve got it bad, you ought to pick up your Bible and turn there. What Job faced was like every single vegetable in the world stirred up into one, big smoothie. It was nasty. It was hard to swallow. But in the end, Job was blessed more greatly than he had ever been in his life (and Job had been a pretty blessed man up until the smoothie incident).

Much like vegetables, our life situations vary. There are the vegetables that really aren’t as bad as they look. Those are the times we get ourselves all worked up about something only to find that there was nothing to be anxious about. Then there are the vegetables that grow on you with time. I’m sure there have been situations in your life where the pain seems to fade throughout the years. Of course, there are always a few vegetables that are nasty no matter how you cook them. Those are the really icky situations in our lives. But just like those vegetables your mother once force-fed down your throat, the situations God allows into our lives are for a purpose; they help us grow.

Life gives you sunshine and rain, roses and thorns. And sometimes you have to eat your veggies before you can savor the ice cream. (And, who knows, you may grow up to be a salad lover like me.)