{Be Real} Letting Goodness In

That day, God’s goodness didn’t come like I thought it would. Rarely does it.

I was driving on the open road. That day, my thoughts, instead of clearing, were spinning around in my mind. Suddenly, my chest was heavy, and my throat was tight. I needed to talk, so I dialed her number. Please, pick up, pick up. “Hello?” she said. That one word was a sigh of relief to my soul. And all the words that came after it, the understanding, the encouragement, lifted me right out of the pit.

He does that, God – uses people to take us out of the pits we fall into. He always comes to us, wherever we are.

Our daily work is to let him come. To open our hearts to His goodness and love and let it inside us.

However God sends goodness, we can be open to receive it. Let it fall in just like grace. Let it rush in like love.

When we open our eyes, we can see God is always reaching out His hand.

God loves to use people to be good to us. On so many days, His face looks just like theirs. We feel His embrace through the warmth of someone’s arms. It happens more times than we can count.

That text message that comes at just the right moment. That word of encouragement that happened to be exactly what you needed to hear. That hug. That literal “showing up” at your door or that “hello” on the other end of the phone. The flowers picked for you from the garden. That sunset filled with new hope that night.

In each and every of those moments, the words pound in our chests once more,
God is good. God is still good.

It’s easy to stay stuck and fix our eyes on the situation or the mountain ahead. But we can choose to let His goodness reach us right where we are. It’s always a choice.

We can let God reach us, and let people reach us. We can touch their hand instead of turning away. We can look right into their eyes, and say thank you back with ours.

And the truth is, no matter how we respond, our actions can’t hinder God from being God. He will continue to be good to you. Here’s one thing we can cling to today, dear hearts:

His goodness will never stop coming.

This is a promise you can hold close to your heart:

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

-Psalm 23:6

It’s a sure thing – that God will always chase us with His goodness, that God will always meet us with His grace.

When we open our eyes, we see that good things are actually all around.

And when we let His goodness inside us – we become free to release that same goodness into the world.

It’s always been His plan, lovely one. The same way that God sends people to be good to us – YOU are the one He wants to use to be good to others. He wants His love in you to light the way for others who are in the dark.

He wants to use your life, your light, your gifts – to be goodness in the world.

There are a million and one opportunities to be love – and show the world that God is still good, and He is still working.

All it takes is open eyes, and an open heart. Let His goodness in – and watch that spark in you ignite into a flame.

 

 

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of Lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”

-James 1:17