Fiction & God's Plan

I've been reading The Baxter Series by Kathy Herman. She is an excellent suspense writer and I love the way she incorporates the super supernatural world into her writing. As Herman writes the stories of the people in Baxter, she shows the angels that work behind the scenes that "cross" people's paths, guides them, and protects them from things God has not allowed to happen. It really makes a person think about how much goes on in the supernatural world between angels and demons and how God is in charge of it all. Everything is in His hands, He knows how long you'll wait to have an income that supports your family, He knows what lays ahead and what dreams He has placed in your heart, He knows the present and how discontent and uncertain you feel, He knows it all...He has a purpose and plan for it all... In Herman's books some terrible things happen to some great people, some of who are Christians and others who aren't, but each situation draws both groups of people closer to God. The situation also brought other people to God.
For example, book one brings a man accidentally kills his family and his best friends' marriage is saved plus his best friend becomes a Christian. The second book involves two girls getting kidnapped and amazing power of forgiveness and it brought one of the girls into a relationship with the Lord. In the third book a very scary virus comes into contact with the small city of Baxter and changes the lives of at least three people for the better.
Yes bad things happen, yes its hard to understand why God allows certain things to happen, yes we don't always want to have faith, to trust, to wait on God...But doesn't He give us peace? Isn't He always there? Doesn't good come from these bad situations?