The "All Things" Basket
- Rolanda T. Pyle
- 10 hours ago
- 3 min read
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love the Lord, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28 (NKJV)
This scripture has significant value to me because I learned through my life that even when we can’t see it, even when we can’t feel it, God is working it out.
Over the years, I’ve learned to put things I can’t understand into my “all things” basket.
When Life Starts With Loss
As a little girl, I was raised by my father and my paternal grandmother. When my mother left, my praying grandmother stepped in to help my father raise his three stairstep toddlers.
I remember crying many days, wondering why my life looked so different from everyone else’s. I felt embarrassed when my grandmother walked me to public school, and classmates asked, “Where is your mother?” Some children were cruel. One girl bullied me relentlessly, telling me that because I was skinny and ugly, my mother must not have wanted me. I would hide in the bathroom and cry.
At the time, I could not see the blessing. I only felt the absence.
It was not until years after my grandmother passed that I truly understood the sacrifice she made. She died when I was eleven. My mother returned briefly, only to leave again. Once more, I was crushed.
The Pain That Shaped My Purpose
Growing up, I believed being raised by my father and grandmother was one of the worst things that could have happened to me. It felt unnatural. Unfair. Not how life was supposed to be.
After high school, I went to college knowing only one thing for sure. I wanted to help people.
My career led me through foster care and preventive services, and eventually into work recruiting and training seniors to serve as role models for at-risk families. I loved it. I loved working with both seniors and children.
Years later, a friend offered me a position at an agency that had received funding to launch a program for grandparents raising their grandchildren. The program grew. Eventually, I was asked by the city to lead the Grandparent Resource Center at the Department for the Aging.
That program became a national model.
During this time, I earned my Master’s Degree in Social Work.
When “All Things” Come Full Circle
I received awards. I spoke across the country. I met elected officials, mayors, and governors. I was named one of the New York Daily News’ “100 Women Who Shape Our City.”
Later, I joined the Brookdale Foundation’s Relatives as Parents Program, providing grants, guidance, and technical assistance to programs nationwide that supported relative caregivers.
I had gone full circle. From community work to city leadership to national impact.
And then the realization hit me.
How did I know what grandparents raising grandchildren truly needed? How did I understand their exhaustion, their love, their resilience?
I lived it.
The “All Things” Basket
Years ago, what I believed was the worst chapter of my life turned out to be preparation. I did not know then that God was working every tear, every loss, and every unanswered question together for good.
What felt like abandonment became an assignment.
That is why I place everything into my “all things” basket. The pain. The confusion. The unanswered prayers. God wastes nothing.
“All things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.”
Rolanda T. Pyle is a licensed social worker specializing in aging services, caregiving, and grandparents raising grandchildren. She is the author of Grandma’s Hands, Finally, Beneath His Everlasting Wings, and All Things. Her work has appeared in religious and community publications nationwide.
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