{Be Confident} God’s Goodness Follows

Spiritual Growth

July 15, 2015

My husband and I recently purchased our first home on a quiet little street outside of St. Louis. After years of pinterest planning, we are slowly converting our little home into the warm, cozy cottage that I’ve always dreamt of.

While exciting, the process has proven to be eye-opening in more ways than one for me. Mostly, it’s served to bring out the differences in my husband, Dave, and I. You see, I was fortunate enough to marry almost my exact opposite. He is the order to my chaos and the brain behind most of what I do in life. Dave carefully plans and thinks through every detail, while I look at a pile of materials, grab a hammer, and “plan” to figure it out as I go!

Shortly after purchasing our home, he was dutifully working on unclogging the pipe to the washing machine in our basement. After a long day of working on the house, I was sitting in the floor of our then almost empty living room and scrolling through pinterest (because what else would I be doing?) I saw where someone had spray-painted the old, brass fixtures on their fireplace black to make them look more modern. I was already exhausted, covered in paint and sweat, so I thought, “why not knock one more thing out today?! It will be quick and easy!” So, I turned on Pandora, took off my shoes, laid down a piece of cardboard in the garage, and got right to it!

………

Two hours later, at around 11 p.m., I was finally finished.

With my eyes half open, I meandered back into the house, took a shower, threw on pajamas, and crawled into bed. Feeling pretty proud of myself, I fell asleep almost instantly, so I wasn’t sure what time my husband actually came to bed.

A couple weeks later, I was proudly telling some friends about my project, and how I had done it completely on my own. I was showing photos on my phone and telling them how well it had come out. Dave then laughed and told his version of the story.

Apparently, after I had gone to bed, Dave had come up the stairs to find a trail of little black footprints crossing the kitchen. He looked out in the garage to find those same footprints, with a trail that led down the hallway and all the way to the bathroom, where they covered the bottom of the shower. He went through that night scrubbing up each footprint through the garage and house, so that I wouldn’t have to feel bad about it the next day.

Talk about humbling. Oops! But altogether, very like me.

I had gotten to wake up the next day, admire my work, and never even knew of the mess I had made, the extra work I had caused, or the blessing I had received.

Looking back on it, remembering my husband laughing and sending me an adoring looking from across the room while he told his story, I realized that with it I had experienced a small taste of God’s love for me.

How often is God working in my life, loving me through my mess, blessing me in a thousand little ways – and in my haste for the next thing, I never stop to notice or realize? He is blessing me before I even know I need to be blessed.

But I am guilty of playing the victim.

Guilty of crying out to God in frustration over the things that I believe I need, in the exact moment I think I need them. Guilty of letting my heart’s desires take over my life and, in turn, affecting my relationship with the Lord. Guilty of constantly praying for the next thing and failing to recognize and appreciate the blessings He’s already given.

In brainstorming for this post, I decided to quickly jot down the ways that God has blessed me just this year. What I didn’t recognize or realize until I wrote them all down is that everything I’ve prayed for, I have received in some way or another. And don’t get me wrong, this year hasn’t been a can of peaches! There’s been struggle and tears and frustration and questions. But with each prayer, God has answered me, more often than not, with something even grander than what I was praying for. Something even greater than I was envisioning. Something completely separate from what I was asking, but so, so much better.

In church Sunday, our pastor said something that really stuck with me. He said, “just like we have photos of our loved ones sitting on our dresser, God has your photo on His.”

What a reminder! We are a child of God.

He knows us better than we know ourselves. Knows the desires of our heart and makes it His business to meet our needs. He loves us fully and completely and unconditionally, and only wants the best for us.

For me, Jeremiah 29:11-13 has always been the greatest reminder of that goodness. And although I have the verse memorized, I am excellent at forgetting.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

While we are busy making messes, God in his unfailing goodness is working quietly behind the scenes to bless us. While we think we are doing it all on our own, God is helping us along and blessing us in ways we didn’t even know we needed. While we are crying out to the Lord for the desires of our heart in the moment, frustrated with Him that he is making us wait – he is looking down in love and preparing us for something infinitely greater than we even knew to ask for.

I don’t know about you, but that kind of goodness overwhelms me. To know that that kind of love and care is poured into my life on a daily basis is beyond comforting. And the fact that more often than not I fail to see it is more than humbling.

Friends, let’s be intentional this month in remembering God’s goodness. Instead of worrying about the future or the next big thing, let’s praise Him for what He has already given. Let’s recognize His blessings in our lives, even down to the smallest desires of our hearts. Let’s take comfort in the fact that we are His children, and our needs and desires are being met as we speak in His perfect timing.

Rest in the fact that His goodness will always follow us.