Is God Good All Of The Time

     Recently, my husband and I were talking about how we always praise God when everythings going well, but that when we have pain and strife upon us, we're not always good about knowing that God is good even in the midst of the storm. He's still Soverign, and on His throne, even then! It got me to thinking, praying, and reading the Bible a lot. I posted this a couple years ago, but I thought I'd share it again. Please share and enjoy. :)

When the cancer is in remission, we say, “God is good.” When the pay raise comes, we announce “God is good.” When the university admits us or the final score favors our team, “God is good.” Would we, and do we, say the same under different circumstances? In the cemetery, as well as the nursery? In the unemployment line, as well as the grocery line? In days of recession as much as in days of provision?
 Is God always good? 

    For Brian and Christyn Taylor, the question is more than academic. During this last year their seven-year-old daughter was hospitalized for more than six months with six surgeries for a disease of the pancreas, Brian’s job was discontinued, several family members died and another was diagnosed with brain cancer, and Christyn was pregnant with child number four. Life was tough. She blogged: 

     Multiple hospital stays with my daughter were exhausting, but I held faith. Losing Brian’s family members one by one until there was only one left, who was then diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer, was incomprehensible, but I still held faith. Being hospitalized seven-and-a-half weeks with a placental abruption was terrifying, but I held faith. I held to the faith that God works for my good, and though I did not necessarily understand the trials, I trusted God’s bigger, unseen plan.

     God and I had a deal- I would endure the trials that came my way as long as he acknowledged
 my stopping point.  He knew where my line had been drawn, and I knew in my
heart he would never cross it. He did.

     I delivered a stillborn baby girl. With my daughter Rebecca still at home on a feeding tube and her future health completely unknown, it was a foregone conclusion that this baby we so wanted and loved would be saved. She wasn't. My line in the sand was crossed.
My one-way deal with God was shattered. 

     Everything changed in that moment. Fear set in, and my faith began to crumble. My “safety zone” with God was no longer safe. If this could happen in the midst of our greatest struggles, then anything was fair game. For the first time in my life, anxiety began to overwhelm me.

We can relate. Most, if not all of us, have a contractual agreement with God. The fact that he hasn't signed it doesn't keep us from believing it. 

I pledge to be a good, decent person, and in return God will…

save my child

heal my wife

protect my job

(fill in the blank)__________

only fair, right? Yet when God fails to meet our bottom-line expectations, we are left spinning in a tornado of questions. Is he good at all? Is God angry at me? Stumped? Overworked? Is his power limited? His authority restricted? Did the devil outwit him? When life isn't good, what are we to think about our God? Where is he in all this? He's there!...Go to part 2 for the rest:
http://daughterofdestiny-generation78.blogspot.com/2014/02/is-god-good-when-life-isnt-part-2.html
Excerpt from Max Lucado's Book "You'll get through this"

Hope ya'll don't mind, but a friends blog I follow: http://stonesoup12.blogspot.com
wrote this post, so I thought I'd re-post it. :)

Last Saturday, we heard that church would be cancelled Sunday due to a winter blizzard that was expected to bring 6-12 inches of snow with high winds.  So, although it was still sunny and warm that day, I headed out for any groceries we may need if we were to be home a while. And we all thought ahead to the next day.  A 5-way baby shower would be postponed, so no wrapping gifts just yet.  Joey's friend's baptism up in Denver may have to wait. Sam's friend Ethan would not be coming over.  We would do church at home.  Danny could skype his debate coach. What would we like to read, as we snuggled inside?

after the storm

We knew the storm was coming. We didn't know how bad it would be, but we prepared just in case.  And since it didn't come unexpectedly, it really wasn't that bad.

Sometimes there are storms in our own lives that we know are coming.  We may not know how big they'll be, or what damage they'll do, if any, but we can at least prepare ourselves in prayer and wisdom.  

And yet sometimes, the storms of life swoop down and knock us on our feet. They leave us in a humbled state, wondering 'why?'.

Sometimes the damage is minimal, and we learn from it and walk on a little smarter.  Sometimes it takes months, or years, to recover.  

No matter what kind of storm comes my way, I seem to feel the need to get back to normal as soon as possible.  I think that's pretty normal.  I find myself thinking, 'when things settle down, (fill in the blank)'.  What if things don't settle down for a long time? What if they transition into new storms with new challenges?  What if life as I know it never comes back to this place?  Will I have the strength to endure, the wisdom to trust, the patience to wait.  

So many times I ask our Good Lord to give me strength, or to let my children be people of character or give my husband wisdom.  I am thinking we'll wake up next day and be filled with all these goodies from God.  But what happens instead?  We wake up to a storm, or a challenge at the least.  And we fuss and fret and try to get to anywhere but in this situation. I don't want to hear these winds blow, or be surrounded by dark clouds, not knowing when the storm will stop and I can go on with life. My mind gets too full and I try to make sense of it all.  And just when it seems it has gotten too hard to endure, my Sweet Lord comforts me with His words.

Isaiah 40:31: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

⁵ 

Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart  and lean not on your own understanding;

⁶ 

in all your ways submit to him,    and he will make your paths straight.

Psalm 46:10: Be still and know that I am God.

I am learning to be still.  To look at Him, not the wind and the waves.  To see that He is in the storms of our lives, He may have even brought them to us, and He will calm them.  To anticipate His Fatherly comforts and wisdom and kindness.  And to anticipate what work He is doing in us as we learn to trust through the things that come our way.

And how's that for a little light thinking tonight?

Psalm 107:29:  He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.