Posts

Posted on

Goodness In Every Season

My Dearest Sister,

As I sit in the field behind my apartment and enjoy the beautiful New York summer afternoon, I cannot help but reflect on the wonder of God’s creation. The songbirds chirp softly to each other as a honey bee darts from the Queen Anne’s Lace to a cluster of dandelions near where I am relaxing in the warm sunlight. There is a light breeze that washes over everything, making the cattail reeds dance and the trees whisper. I am reminded of the passage in Genesis where God finishes each of His creations by calling it good. Surely on a day like this, it would be impossible to disagree with such a conclusion. However I know in about six months this landscape will look completely different. When the flowers, birds, and sunshine have all been replaced by bare trees, gray skies, and three feet of snow on the ground, will I still be praising His creation? Honestly, probably not as readily as I am right now.
In our daily lives, our praise to God seems to work in a similar manner. Have you ever noticed how easy it is to thank God for His goodness when things are going just the way you wanted? When our family is healthy, our home is happy, and our relationships are blossoming, it seems so natural to have an attitude of thankfulness. However, when the storms of life roll in and all we can see is gray skies, that thankful demeanor tends to change. Maybe we receive bad news about a loved one, are facing challenges at work or in our marriage, or maybe we are just going through a season of spiritual dryness, a “wintertime” of the soul. Whatever the trial may be, praising God for His goodness is often the last thing on our mind.
But it shouldn’t be that way, dear sister. Even in the times when we seem to be caught up in a harsh winter season of life, we can trust in the Lord’s goodness toward us. Romans 8:28 says that “All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” All things, not just those that make us happy and joyful. Sometimes it’s hard to imagine how those storms and struggles could be a part of God’s design for our life. For example, if you had told me five years ago that today I would be married to a man in the Army, living over a thousand miles away from all my family, and still haven’t finished college, I would have said you were crazy. That’s not the plan I had mapped out for myself at all. However, as verse 28 says, this goodness is ultimately for His purpose. God’s ways are not our ways so His plan for our good sometimes includes challenges filled with sadness, disappointment, frustration, or loneliness. But that should be okay with us because you know what? Even those storms have a place in God’s good design for us. The last five years have proven that to me because I can see how each unforeseen struggle has brought me to a closer, more intimate relationship with Him.
The best thing about this goodness, sister, is that it will never fail us, for it lies at the very core of who God is. His mercy, compassion, lovingkindness, patience – all the things that make Him Lord – are directly related to the fact that He is inherently good. It sets Him apart from every other being in the universe, making Him alone holy and worthy to be praised. The ultimate evidence of this goodness is shown in His blessed gift of salvation. Who else could love a sinful, wicked people enough to send His only precious Son to die an excruciating, humiliating death so that they could spend eternity with Him? My dear friend, we can never overestimate the goodness of the Lord. I don’t think we will even really understand it in its entirety until we meet Him face to face. But one thing is for sure: we can trust in His goodness always, because nothing, not even the darkest, coldest winters of our life, can take away this assurance we have of His eternal grace toward us. So let’s praise God in every season of life and beyond for His dependable goodness!

“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.” – Psalm 100:4-5

In His love,
~ Lauren

Posted on

His, Mine and Ours

Dearest Sisters in the Lord,
One of the most delightful and meditative ways for me to pray is to spend time dwelling on the characteristics of God, concentrating on Who He is, how magnificent His reign, how wonderful His works!

Come alongside me and we can pray this way together. We might one day focus on His incommunicable characteristics: holy, eternal, infinite, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, abounding in grace. He alone possesses them and shares, or communicates, them with no one and nothing in His creation. Caveat, Dear Ones: when we meditate on these, be prepared to leave your prayer place totally breathless!

However, on another day, we may want to dwell on those characteristics of God that he does communicate, or shares, with us. Such would be love, joy, peace, patience, and goodness, those wonderful “fruits of the Spirit” listed in Galatians 5. It is God’s faithful promise to us that when we receive Christ Jesus as our Savior, we begin to experience these special traits for ourselves, and we are, also, glad when we see them exhibited in others. We are made in His image, after all!

So, to start such a devotional today, let us consider goodness—God’s and ours, but we shall quickly discover but they are not one and the same; however, we can still enjoy the comparison and praise Him for any goodness that He places in us.

God’s goodness radiates from all that He is because He is God. His goodness is eternal, there was no beginning to it and there will be no end to it. The goodness in us might allow us to perform a noble deed, or extend an act of kindness—something easy to do when nothing has interfered with our time and no one has disturbed our space.

Unlike us, God’s goodness is infinite—there is no limit to it. The beauty of His creation reveals it to us daily—a captivating sunset, snow sparkling on the mountain, ripples in a stream, a baby’s first words, a familiar hymn, and, without more hesitation—chocolate! We can taste and see His goodness everyday and everywhere:
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
Psalm 34:8

Where His goodness is everlasting, ours lasts until someone or something makes us angry, upset, annoyed, and, in arrogance, we refuse to be nice to anyone anymore! Have you ever had one of those days?

God’s goodness is holy. There is nothing unholy in Him. If there is any goodness that emanates from us, it often comes to light with some measure of pride and some need for a reward. What a great feeling to do something good for someone—whether they deserve it or not! We might not say it, but we sure can think it in our heart—just place the royal crown on my head right now!

Our goodness is unholy—pitiable, passing and puffing!

Sisters, I share these thoughts today, because it is so important to remember God’s goodness— and forget ours! The truth of the matter is that there is nothing good in us, unless we wear the robe of righteousness that Jesus Christ wove for us in His blood.
I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness.
Isaiah 61:10a

Goodness belongs to God alone and His goodness is always accompanied by His glory—something Moses saw when God permitted him to in Exodus 33. Moses yearned to see God Almighty, and the God of all Grace rendered him the unsurpassable privilege of experiencing on earth His Shekinah glory, calling it His goodness while revealing His graciousness and mercy.

And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.
Exodus 33:19

We can only gasp with wonder and awe at the thought! Yet, someday, you and I will see the same in Heaven:
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23:6

Ah, how good for us to linger on God’s Goodness for the rest of the day, and tomorrow, and the next day, and, indeed, for all the days of our life.

In His Grace and Goodness,
Mimi

Posted on

Good is Best

Dear Sisters,
As I considered this month’s topic, I originally thought the word “good” was a bit insipid, bland. I mean “great” or “awesome” just pops off the page. Something tremendous must be happening when those adjectives are applied. However, looking through the Word, I was surprised to see how often “good” appeared in some of my favorite passages—even referring to creation, our Savior, and the Gospel.

“God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” Genesis 1:31a

“How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation, and says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” Isaiah 52:7

“’Well done, good and faithful slave. ‘” Matthew 25:23a

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28

“Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” I Timothy 6:12

Quickly finding “good” in the dictionary in the back of my Bible, I read: “complete, right, commendable.” This added with the insight from the verses above, instead of a lukewarm description, now “good” conjured a picture of deliberate precision, tranquil unity, and comforting assurance. The term doesn’t need to render energy proving itself—it just is. “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” John 10:11

Today instead of frenetically chasing today’s worries, sit for a while, taste and see God is good (Psalm 34:8), and be glad. “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, but a good word makes it glad.” Proverbs 12:25
Running with you,
Rebecca

Posted on

Él es Bueno

Dearest sister,

As I read Colleen’s letter, I realized how I often forget that God is good. I know He is holy, merciful, and omnipotent (and many other things) but I seldom think about God’s goodness. As I stop to reflect on the reason for this neglect, I quickly am displeased with myself. I find that it’s because I often do not take adequate time to dwell on the person of God and all that He is. So let us dwell on it together.

Goodness is an attribute of God. Psalm 107:1 says, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” (see also Ps. 106:1; 136:1; 118:1). Now for some reason when I read the ‘is’ in this sentence I was reminded of when I learned the difference between the verbs ser (rhymes with hair) and estar in Spanish class. Both verbs mean “to be” but which verb you use depends on the permanence of what is being described. (This is something we don’t see in English.) I learned the jingle: For how you feel and where you are always use the verb estar. Feelings and your current location are temporary. However, where you are from, what you do, and what you are like is permanent. For these descriptions you use ser.

The psalms exhort us to “give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.” In Spanish, “Alabad a Jehová, porque él es bueno.” (Psalm 107:1) Es is a conjugation of the verb ser, the form used to describe permanent characteristics! This means that God is inherently good; it is part of His unchanging character. It’s permanent. God is good and His works are good.

Sister, are you struggling to find God’s goodness in your life? Do you question how God is going to work something out for your good? I promise that you are not alone in your fears. During these difficult times, remember that the character of the Lord never changes, “for he cannot deny himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13) His goodness will never fail, even if you can’t see it.

Keep pressing on,

Kayla

Posted on

Glory Unto Glory

My dear sister,

I hope that this letter finds you well, and that the grace of God has overflowed into the hearts of others in your life. I know that at times when life is overwhelming it is difficult to see the hand of God working in our lives and hearts. Much less, His goodness and mercy towards us. Even though we can’t see, and we can’t feel His goodness it does not diminish the Truth that it does exist and it is real.

Two of my favorite Psalms are the Twenty third and the Twenty seventh. In each of them the Psalmist begins with the facts regarding our God: the “Shepard”, “Light”, “Strength”, “Salvation” and who we are in light of what He has done for us: “confident”, “restored”. But in rides the gruesomeness of life in this world “the valley of the shadow of death” and the “day of trouble” where the “wicked advance” against us. It is true that this world can be very ugly at times even downright wicked. We cause pain for others and in turn others cause us pain too. This truth reminds me of the saying “it is difficult to see the forest for the trees”. I become so focused on tree after tree after tree, that I miss the beauty of the whole forest. I miss the the completeness or totality of all the trees together.

The joy that I receive from the Psalms is that they never leave you in your miserableness. They inevitably round the bend where God’s shining glory causes the fear and angst of our hearts to arise out of the ashes to Praise Him! And what do we praise Him for? His goodness!

“I remain confident of this; I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord be strong and take heart, wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27:13-14

“Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalm 23:6

I know that it is hard to imagine at times but God’s goodness always (let me say that again) always prevails! Sweet friend, it is usually my own limited thoughts and experiences that get in the way of embracing this Truth. I see hurt, I see pain, I see destruction and I see plain ole offenses and wonder “How in the world is there goodness in that?” And yet, in the heart of flesh that God has graciously gifted me with I hear the whisper of His love say “Trust Me, it is good!”

I will be frank with you sister. There are times in my own arrogance I dare to debate with God and I say to Him, “This suffering, pain, selfishness or ugliness displayed is senseless! There is no reasonableness in those words or behavior! Show me Lord where Your goodness is resident! Because I cannot see it!” Then I am gently reminded that God’s goodness being “out of this world” cannot be seen in this world in which I live. Sometimes the good God has planned is for beyond this world and my own imaginings. It is what I call my reality (Oh, yeah I am but a vapor or dust moment) check!

I can trust His word and His word tells me that He is working (Romans 8:28) and that He does have my eternal good in mind in all things that affect me (His child). That eternal good is my transformation into the likeness of His Son (Romans 8:29), to which the final product is meant for His glory(Romans 8:30). So when I doubt or am feeling like debating over the lack of visible goodness in this world The Holy Spirit helps me to recall; 2 Corinthians 3:18 ” But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of The Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as by the Spirit of The Lord!” Now that’s what I call goodness!

I hope this small letter encourages you today as you look about to see God’s goodness and are struggling to actually see it! May He make you aware of His glory and of your future glory which is to behold Him in heaven. Trust Him, He is good! Take a moment to enjoy this video and May your heart be blessed!

 

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pN4tPkX0MG0

Your Sister in Christ,

Susan