Providence

CRITICAL: ‘providence’ is now a rare, archaic-sounding word; for many American readers the proper noun (Providence, Rhode Island) is now the most common encounter with the word string itself. Separately, the popular secular substitute ‘everything happens for a reason’ sounds similar to Romans 8:28 but usually implies an impersonal cosmic balancing mechanism, not the personal, purposive God of Romans; this difference should be stated explicitly.