Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

I believe the year was 2002.  I was a brand new baby Christian, being saved only a year earlier.  Being so young, and completely disconnected from the Church Body, I was still struggling mightily with my old nature.  I was still partying, drinking, and doing drugs.  But God was at work within me.

One night, some friends of mine wanted to go to the bar.  By I was only 20 and not old enough.  So they went, while I went around the corner to a different friends house.  We spent the night drinking and doing drugs.  Besides smoking pot, I had taken some pills (not sure what they were).  

Anyways, at around 2am the bars were closing, so I went to meet my friends, Jamie and Rebecca.  As we started down the street towards Jamie's house, an older man coming out of the bar began to follow us.  He was yelling at Rebecca in a drunken stupor and Jamie got fed up with it.  So he turned and confronted the man saying, "That's my girlfriend your talking to!"  To which the man responded that he didn't care.  The man was very drunk and slurring his words.

Jamie and this man began arguing back and forth for several minutes.  Rebecca got angry and walked off.  But I felt obligated to stay with my friend in case something happened.  Well, something did happen.

Jamie had had enough and threw a punch at this guy, hitting him in the mouth.  He started to fall, and I threw another punch at him as he fell connecting.  The guy hit the ground and Jamie began to kick him in the head several times.  I got him to stop by yelling that the cops were coming and we took off, leaving the man lying in the alley.

The next day, I ran into a different friend who was wearing a cast.  He explained how he had been in a fight about a week ago and broke his hand/arm (can't remember which).  I ended up telling him about the fight we had been in the night before.

The police were now investigating this fight, and they had heard about my friends broken hand/arm.  So they pulled him in for questioning when they discovered that he was telling people it happened in a fight.  He was scarred and told them that they needed to question me, because I had bragged about a fight on the night in question, and his fight was from a week prior.  Once the police confirmed that, they came to me.

I went into instant denial.  They took me to the police station for questioning, where they had the victim waiting to id me.  He could not.  He had been so drunk that he could not remember me and even told the police that he had never seen me before in his life.  So the police had no choice but to let me go.

While the police had not evidence, the Lord knew what I had did.  And He would not let me rest.  He confronted me every day telling me that I needed to confess.  But I was terrified.  At this point, the police were talking attempted murder.  For the man had his eye orbit fractured and was left for dead.  I was so scarred.  I remember lying in bed every night, crying my eyes out to the Lord asking Him what I should do.  Attempted murder meant up to 20 years in prison!  I had a new son.  I was scared I would never get to see him grow up.  And the police had NO EVIDENCE.  I could get away with it scott-free!

After awhile of the Lord working on me, I surrendered to Him.  I lied there and cried and said, "OK God.  I trust You.  If you want me in prison, so be it.  I will do whatever You ask."  So I turned myself in.  I confessed in writing to the entire thing.

Later, as it came time for me to go to court, the Lord told me that I should write a letter of apology to the man, which I did.  Good thing #1.  At this point in time, the DA had dropped the charges to a misdemeanor battery charge.  This meant short time in county jail as opposed to a long period in prison!  Good thing #2.

So I went to court and I ended up getting sentenced to six months in jail.  It was during this 6 month period that the Lord truly got a hold of my heart and began to do huge changes in me.  Good thing #3.  I spent that 6 months completely dedicated to the Lord and to studying His Word.  His Word became alive to me and I started to grow.  He started to conform me to His image and to erase the sins from my heart.  I ended up having the best time of my life, because it was time with God!  Good thing #4.

Later, I learned that the man we had beat up, had had his life saved by this event.  Due to the fractured eye orbit, they had to take him in for brain scans.  During one of the scans, they located a tumor on his brain.  It was early enough to remove it, and if he would have not had the scan, they would have never found it!  Good thing #5.

God had taken this event, and worked it for my good.  He transformed me over those 6 months while I sat in that jail cell.  He also confirmed in me the power of His Word.  He also used this event to save that man's life.

If you are God's child, no matter what He tells you to do, it is for your good.  He is working ALL THINGS in your life for your good.  No matter how strange, hard, or scary the event, God is at work.  Trust Him.