All the time?

Thank you to my sweet friend Valerie who gave me this sign!!! I still have it after all these years and countless moves later!

God is good…

ALL the time?

Yes.

All the time.

God is good.

(I had actually never heard that expression until I married Justin and went to the Methodist Church, but I loved it every time they would say it together as a congregation in a call and response.)

So why is this on my mind today?

I woke up this morning to a text from a friend asking for prayers. She was going in to a doctor’s appointment to have CT scans read and was nervous about the results. This has been a long journey and she’s seen God do some amazing things with her health, but what if? What if today was the day the other shoe dropped? (my interpretation)

But that shoe didn’t drop.

She got great news.

She texted me, “God is so good, and I am so undeserving. I'd like to think I'd still be praising Him if the news was different, but I honestly don't know.”

I love this honesty and I bet so many of us can relate. I know I could.

First of all, she is absolutely deserving. As am I and as are you.

But what if that shoe had dropped? What if your phone rang and you received devastating news? I’m pretty sure all of us can agree how easy is it to praise God when things are good and how we want it, but maybe not so much when things aren’t the way we’d like it.

Lucky for us, in both scenarios, God doesn’t change…He is still good.

In the more challenging times, I think it is up to us to look for His goodness and give credit where credit is due. The evidence is all around us, we just have to acknowledge it.

Like my friend who lost his wife at Thanksgiving. If you haven’t read Unexpected Blessings, go take a second to read it. He sent me his list of the many blessings he has witnessed since his wife’s diagnosis and passing and I was a bucket of tears just a few lines in. He could be cursing God for taking His wife, but he isn’t because that’s not who God is and that’s not who he is. Instead, he is praising God for providing for his family through this tragedy - insurance policies he didn’t even remember having, employers covering funeral expenses, groceries for a year, Christmas presents covered, friends and family and their overwhelming outpouring of love and support. Not to mention the gentleness God showed his wife her last week or the last memories the kids will have of her. All gracious gifts that he praises God for.

Or another friend who had to undergo open heart surgery despite the fact that he and his wife were praying the heart would be healed. Instead of being bitter, they praise God for the opportunity to witness to more people in the hospital. Each doctor appointment is another opportunity to share with those there what God has done in their lives.

Or a third friend almost through chemo who praises God for healing her although she still has some treatments to go.

These stories matter. Maybe you have a similar story. Personally, they inspire and encourage me to keep deepening my faith and getting to know the true nature of God. And the more and more I do, the more I deeply believe…

God is good, all the time and all the time, God is good.