areliablefaith

This morning as I lay thinking about how good God is, the thought came to me – “I wonder if many other people become overwhelmed by how good God is to them?” Sometimes it just amazes me how real, loving, and good God is, despite all my shortcomings. Even in the midst of difficulty, in fact I would say especially in the midst of difficulty, God shows up with mercy and grace in tangible ways. I have written briefly about my wonderful wife’s unfortunate accident where she broke her leg in the post Broken Legs, Mended Hearts. Well the list of positives from that painful event is long – a strengthened bond between Lisa and I, a deepening of each of our individual walks with Christ, a real and tangible change in our attitude and approach to fitness, a cleaning out of some of the “junk” that had built up in both our emotional closet and our bedroom closet, better communication with each other and within the family, flourishing relationships that had once grown cold… all of this as a direct result of God using a broken leg to shift our focus to Him.

So back to the question – is this rising up of gratitude within a commonly shared trait with others?  My best guess at this point is that it depends upon whether we are alike or related.  Let me explain.  As humans trying to make a life in this current day we share many things… the same weather, traffic, interpersonal relationships, TV commentators, restaurants, robocalls, work demands, etc.  In essence we all have a long list of things in common that alternately challenge us or make us happy.  Now overcast skies for days on end or snail pace traffic are two things that I struggle to appreciate.  And I believe in a poll these would generally fall into most people’s “DO NOT LIKE” list.  For these and many other LIKES and DISLIKES I believe that most of us share common feelings.  Because we are alike we generally respond to similar negative things with dislike or disapproval and positive things with approval and appreciation.

But what about this feeling of joy and gratitude when dealing with something that really isn’t on everyone’s “Favorite Things to Do” list like breaking a leg?  Well I believe this is more a factor of who your Father is, it is more an attribute of being in the family of God than it is anything else.  As I think back over my life I can picture those times of serious difficulty and see a distinct difference between my life BC and AC.  Before Christ I got myself into a few problems in addition to the normal issues we all face.  I can remember the stress of painful decisions, tough actions, and the lingering after effects.  One of the most troublesome aspects of all is the second-guessing of myself that invariably takes place.  Some for getting into situations that I shouldn’t have gotten into in the first place and others for making choices that negatively affected others.  But After Christ things have been much different.  For one the problems that I generate are much fewer.  By striving to obey God’s revealed Word and honoring authority, I have fallen into fewer troubles of my own making.  However, that by no means ensures a trouble-free life.  Issues still arise (we do live in a fallen world) and the consequences of others actions still impact us.  In some cases trouble finds us with no tangible cause that we can name.  Yet in my life since becoming a child of God, the attitude I once had has disappeared and a new attitude and approach has taken its place.

The AC approach is pretty simple.  The first step is to take everything to the Lord in prayer.  If the trouble is of my own doing, I repent, seek to make amends if I can, and ask for forgiveness.  The bible says God is faithful and true and He will forgive us our sins if we humbly repent.  As one who has availed himself of this on several occasions I know this to be true.  And not just true in a head knowledge way, but with tangible proof in my soul.

Once I’ve dealt with my complicity in the trouble I then move to asking God what He wants to teach me through the trial.  I have learned to never waste a good challenge or difficulty.  I am convinced I have learned much more in the hard times of life than in the seemingly good times.  God wants us to grow to be more like Him, more aware and supportive of others, more loving in all our relationships, more like Jesus.  The Word contains so much rich material for thriving in tough times.  In addition devotionals like “Jesus Calling” can be very helpful in our faith walk.  It seems like every day since Lisa broke her leg the reading from our devotion has been spot on.

Another very important step is engaging your network of family – the family of faith, to hold you up.  This can take many forms such as providing acts of service when you most need them, giving a listening ear, praying for you and with you, or even holding you accountable in your decisions.  It probably could go without saying, but that family of faith thing goes both ways – when other family members are in the midst of difficulty God will give us the opportunity to minister to them as they have done for us.

The last steps I have learned are to stay in constant conversation with the Lord and allow thankfulness to flood your soul.  Like this morning, I could not help but be grateful for all God has done and is doing in our lives.  He is truly active in bringing about good in and through us.  It is amazing… which is what I was thinking of at 3:31 am this morning when I woke up.  God is so good.  His love endures forever.  Blessed be the Name of the Lord!