Is God Really Good?

Is God Really Good?

Some ask how God is good when things are bad.

When the pain is so deep and the emptiness so great, words meant to comfort are hollow.

Your heart is so wounded, so empty, there is nowhere for the words to settle.

We want to be left alone in our pain. We want to submit to its power and let it sweep us away because it’s better than trying to live.

Still, the Bible says God is good.

Will you see it?

God made us able to endure suffering. You may not feel it right away, but it will come at the right time.

No matter who you are, where you come from, what you believe – it doesn’t matter. We are all given the ability to choose.

Some call it the human spirit. Some call it faith. Either way, it is God who gives us courage, strength, endurance and joy – yes, even joy – hidden deeply within every one of us. We only find it when we are faced with needing it.

There will come a moment when you feel it. An unfamiliar sensation coaxing you up out the pit of darkness and despair.  And you will push it aside because you don’t want it.

But God is patient.

You say, “But she has always been optimistic and good-natured. It’s easier for her”.

While it’s true we might think some have an advantage, we are all at the same starting point when it comes to pain. Even the most pessimistic or distrustful among us can be encouraged and inspired when we see someone overcoming pain. You don’t try to copy or pretend what you are not. You choose to believe somewhere inside, you have what they have. It might look different, but it’s there.

Because God is good.

And that is the starting point for the healing of your heart. Saying it, accepting it, and believing it for the truth it is.

You don’t have to work at it. God does the rest.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

– The Bible

greyscale photography of woman wearing long sleeved top
Photo by Kat Jayne on Pexels.com

 

 

say something nice.

say something nice.

Everyone is going through something.

The gal at the cash register.

The guy delivering your fuel.

The elderly man who lives next door.

Do you think about other people that way?

Do you wonder what people’s stories are?

Photo credit: Justin Masterson / Foter / CC BY-NC
Photo credit: Justin Masterson / Foter / CC BY-NC

When you’ve known what pain is, you become more aware of other people’s stories.

When you think about others before yourself, you’re more apt to say something nice to them.

It doesn’t take much to make someone feel good. You might be saving them!

~~~

one thousand gifts.

one thousand gifts.

Pain is everywhere. We can’t eradicate it. We can only live with it.

But how we live with it is what matters.

Sometimes, I just want to give into it. I want it to do it’s work and be done with it. Those are the times when I can’t … or I refuse … to take another breath. Just let me die.

It’s then when we see God. Not because he always reaches down and pulls us out of the despair, but because he gets down in it with us, and breathes that next breath into us.

book

“Ann Voskamp’s story is not happily ever after.  As a child, her sister was crushed under a truck in front of her and her mother.  Consequently, her mother checked herself into a psychiatric hospital and her father couldn’t find God.  As an adult, she stood beside her brother-in-law as he buried his first two sons.  Voskamp is a wife and mother who does not grin through the pain but battles to believe that in God is joy, and that there are as many gifts amid the grittiness of life as in the moments of celebration.”

http://www.onethousandgifts.com

nature.

nature.

the-letter-n-jason-wright

Most of the tundra is located north of the Arctic Circle – in the Frigid Zone – the coldest regions of the earth.

Rich Reid and Norbert Rosing

As winter approaches, the nights grow longer and colder as snow and ice cover the earth. The ground freezes solid.

Desolate. Barren. Empty.

Pain is like that.

But then-

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/

Who knew this far removed region of the earth would dance with color? About 400 wildflower species announces to the world that desolation is only temporary.

The existence of pain does not mean God isn’t real. We accept winter and spring. One does not negate the other.

The arrival of spring brings comfort and tells us that God is with us.

Read nature! It helps explain life.

~~~

tornadoes, storms, and pain.

tornadoes, storms, and pain.

When the guy on the screen says that he could hear the cries of children underneath the rubble,his voice starts to crack and how in the world does anything stand in a world like this? – Ann Voskamp

 

Please read.

tornado

~~~

photo credit:  Foter / Public domain

 

color!

color!

Even in our darkest hour, it’s amazing how God’s creation can make us smile.

This truth makes life worth living – even with all the problems we face.

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We have to see the color, even through the gray clouds of pain.

 

alive.

alive.

The morning was cloudy with light, misty rain.                                

Normally, who would want to be outside?

Yet, the golds and reds of autumn painted against a gray sky created a kind of peaceful seclusion, isolating me from the rest of the world.

I love the feel of the rich, damp earth.

Orange, purple, and yellow tulip bulbs were carefully pressed down into the cool ground.

I leaned against the tree, thinking where I would plant an azalea. I looked around at the drooping vines, lifeless hostas, and scattered leaves on the chilled ground.

Then a thought came to me.

We feel happiness.

Why should we not feel pain?

If we feel pain, we are alive.

And being alive is wonderful.

Because on a dismal day you can plant a tulip bulb.

It will lay lifeless and dormant below the cold earth.

But it’s really alive. It’s just waiting for its moment.

~~~

careful.

careful.

Be careful you don’t stay in your pain too long.

Some people do not want to move on.  They may resent the pain and in reaction to it, stay there and sulk.

noche-de-luna-llena-full-moon-night

Be careful of self-pity.

And misery … it  does like company.

You may find yourself very alone.

Doesn’t the earth teach us that a long, dark night breaks with morning sunlight?

At some point, you have to welcome the light. How about today?

~~~~~~

Photo Credit: Luz Adriana Villa A.

tomorrow.

tomorrow.

Some churches deal more with overcoming the pain than feeling it. That leaves people thinking they don’t have enough faith and they ignore the pain.

It’s just as wrong to ignore the pain and call it faith as it is to wallow in pain and never move through it the way God intended.

When my son died, there was no ignoring it. Pushing it away is like trying to cover a fatal, bleeding wound with your hand.

Each day, you face the pain. It is what it is and the best way is to have courage. Courage doesn’t mean you are not afraid, just like feeling pain doesn’t mean you don’t have faith.

Courage is based on truth and so we call it what it is. God has equipped us to walk through the pain, not avoid it.

cloud-in-the-sunlight_l

When the sun goes down at the end of the day, darkness settles over us and we don’t see clearly. Things sometimes look worse.

But remember, the sun always rises in the morning. And the new day is meant to brings us new hope and a new outlook. Don’t dread tomorrow! God is with you always and will guide you through your pain if you let him.

~~~

Photo: Ibrahim Iujaz / Foter.com / CC BY

worrying.

worrying.

I used to worry. I think most people do in varying degrees.

Worrying can be painful. Living anxiously is not good for you.

You can’t stop worrying just because people tell you to stop. Even if it’s Jesus.

Why do you worry about clothing? Think about how the flowers of the field grow; they do not work or spin.

But eventually, what Jesus said will make sense.

Life is unpredictable There will be a time when you have to believe in someone bigger than yourself. And I have personally found that in moments of great anguish, God keeps you from drowning in the pain.

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You have to put the past, present, and future somewhere. We are too finite to carry infinite situations.

God wants you to trust him. Rest is the opposite of worry. And that’s what God wants for you.

~~~