Before I met Raul, I saw life through shattered-glass. The “why,” or “how” formulated on broken focus and jaded pieces. The cup wasn’t half-empty it was almost-gone. The grass wasn’t greener on the other side, it was brown. Life wasn’t a bowl full of cherries, it was a bowl of sour cherries. After we met, I noticed he didn’t see through the same eyes I did. Even though we’d see the same unfortunate event, he’d see it differently. Instead of seeing it through shattered glass, Raul saw it through stained glass. If you’ve ever seen historical cathedrals (like this pic I took at Sainte-Chapelle de Paris), the perfected synchronicity of prisms and colors will leave you breathless. Why does Raul see through stained-glass eyes? Because at the beginning of his faith, he took Romans 8:28, literally. He believed God at his Word that, “ALL things work together for those who love him.” Raul has taught me that if God is in it, we can look for the good in it. Not in some things, but in ALL things. God is not an exaggerator. He’s not an embellished storyteller. When God said “ALL things,” God meant All. Things. When we become a Christ-follower, we become a new creature (Ephesians 4:24) and with that, comes a new set of eyes. Raul embraced his right away! For me, it’s taken time to adust my sight to my new stain-glass(es).  I know we all have eyes, but I pray we look through the stained glass of God’s promises not the shattered glass of our past.