The short answer is Yes. I do believe everything happens for a reason.

Life is filled with a mixed bag of good, bad, and indifferent. We can look at the good and tell ourselves it was meant to be. We can look at the bad and say it shouldn’t have happened that way. It wasn’t meant to be. We can look at the indifferent and believe life is that way.

However, everything that happens, good, bad, or indifferent is to teach us. When something good happens, we smile and believe life is good. But do you stop to think what it took for that good thing to happen? Did you thank God for the good thing that happened? Were you grateful?

What about the bad things that sideline us? Job loss, illness, things that just go wrong from the moment you get out of bed. What about those things? Do you get angry and say, “Nothing ever goes right?” You already forgot the good things that happened the day before. However, what is that bad thing teaching you? Is it teaching you to slow down? Your illness might be necessary because you haven’t taken a break in five years and you’re physically and mentally exhausted. You kept telling yourself to take a break, but you never found the time. Illness forced you to slow down, take a break, and re-evaluate your priorities. It isn’t only illness, it’s anything that steps in and causes you to stop, take a breath and wait. What looks bad, isn’t bad, it’s good.

Now let’s look at those indifferent – neither good or bad situations that happen every moment of every day. Someone said something. You let it go in one ear and out the other. Then in a moment when you’re sitting there, completely quiet, that statement someone said comes back and knocks you sideways. Another example: You’re bored and thumbing through a magazine, barely paying attention to a book you’re reading, and you read something and you suddenly have an epiphany. Everything you’ve been trying to do unsuccessfully, suddenly has a solution and it’s right in front of you in black and white. Something that until that moment you were indifferent to, made sense and turned your life around.

Life is complicated, but everything that ever happens happens for a reason. So whether you’re having a good day, a bad day, or an indifferent day, be grateful. You’re exactly right where you need to be, doing exactly what you’re supposed to be doing.