God is Good...ALL the time

God is good ALL the time. Did you get that? I said ALL the time!!! At times we feel He is not allowing anything good to happen. But, the truth of the matter is God is still being good during those difficult times, in His work in our lives. I'll give you an example, an example of how God has been extremely good in the life of someone who is so dear and special to me....my step-daughter. And let me tell you "step" is just a word I'm using so you know which "child" this involves. "Step" means nothing to me in terms of the two "children" (grown and adults now) I have had for the past 11 years as a result of my marriage to Bill. Steph and Stephen ARE my children; I love them with all of my heart and my being....just as I love my two biological children.

So now, back to how God is good....ALL the time. My daughter has had her share of ups and downs; the pre-teen and teen years were not very easy for her, including a teen pregnancy (she gave birth to my beautiful and wonderful grandson, Jayden) Through all of this we stood by her letting her know that we were there for her and encouraged her to "change" (my thought for her in regards to changing meant finding God) But the main thing I did for the past several years.....I prayed! I prayed that through all of the difficulties she endured (and there were more to come) that God would reveal himself to her, making himself real in her heart, allowing her to see that the only way "up from the bottom" was through Jesus Christ himself. I prayed that she would see that He loves her No Matter What, and that through forgiveness and through her accepting Him, she would find a peace like she's never known.....one I'm sure searched for but never found.

Well, as I said before...God is Good....ALL the time. Steph accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Savior this past Friday evening. During all that she has gone through God had never forsaken her. He was waiting for His perfect timing to draw her unto Himself. His Good plan would come together and reveal his goodness when He (and she) was ready....And Friday, she was finally ready!

What peace and joy a parent feels when they have the assurance of knowing that their child(ren) is saved by God's grace and that she/he has accepted Him into their heart as their Savior. It is also a relief to know that your child's eternal future is secured with God in heaven. It is an unexplainable comfort to know that your child is no longer lost but has been found by the One who can turn even their darkest and loneliest moments around for His good(and theirs).

This whole experience has been incredibly good. Her knew-found faith has shown me that, while I've been a Christian for almost 30 years, I need to have the faith, and all that goes with it, as that of a new believer. Because of God's work in my daughter's life, He has made himself very clear and real to me once again, and has drawn me back closer to Him and has made me want to be as free, happy and eager to serve Him in every area of my life as she is desiring. So for that, I thank you Stephanie, but most of all.....for ALL of this, I thank you God.

God Is GOOD....ALL The Time!!!!!!

Let's Try This Again...

After having just watched the movie "Julie & Julia" I'm feeling very inspired. No, not to blog about cooking "Julia Child's" recipes, but to pick up my blog where I left off almost a year ago. The question for me is, What am I going to share?

I think the biggest thing of this past year, for me, was finding a job back in the medical field. I missed not doing on a daily basis what it was, I felt, God had called me to do...help people. I work for a physician in a small close-knit two-physician medical practice, and I love it! It feels great to again be contributing to my household and coming home at the end of the day, some quite long, knowing that I made a difference! God has blessed me by putting me where I feel he wanted me to be and with a great group of people who are more like family than co-workers. The sad part of all of this; I only worked there for four and a half months before God decided, for reasons I may never know, that he was going to "shake things up" a bit.

I injured my back while at work, and while thinking I'd only be off a few days, set-back after set-back, STILL has me off. I thank God that, Lord-willing, I will be back doing what I love in 11 days:) God has shown me quite a few things in the two months off. The first being that He will NEVER leave me or forsake me...this includes financially. He continued to meet all of our needs; maybe not the way we are accustomed too, But He did! He also showed me yet again (it seems I am one of those people who need frequent reminders) that ALL THINGS happen for a reason even if we never do find out what that reason was. Thirdly, and this may be the biggest lesson learned and the one I feel the most important, is to NEVER assume tomorrow will happen and that the plans you have made for yourself will take place. No one knows this for sure; no one except God! "For I know the plans I have for you", he says, and His plans for me the past two months were definitely different than the plans I had for myself.

I never really grasped why my grandma used to always say, "Lord-willing" whenever she described the plans she had made. I now fully understand what she meant and have begun taking on this frame of mind as well. So.....Lord-willing, I will be back again tomorrow blogging!