GOD is Good ALL the TIME! (Thank you David Leonard for singing this truth to us.)

Can I Get an Amen!!!

• It is a truth—

God, our Father, gives “good gifts” to us.

• It is also a truth—

God, our Father, expects us (His children) to walk rightly and to honor Him through the gifts He has given to us.

“Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, . . .”

Can I get an amen!!!

Behold, the children, the LORD gifts us with, are something we have done nothing whatsoever to deserve.

“The fruit of the womb is a reward.”

Can I get an amen!!!

****Now, let me pause and say that if a husband and wife remain childless, then that is NOT an indication that the LORD does not love them.  NO, that is not the truth at all but the exact opposite.  God plans out each of our lives, sets our days even before He has created one, and if we walk within His will, then HE will be honored and blessed as we walk throughout our lives.

****So, my thoughts for today focus NOT upon ALL the gifts of the LORD but just upon one solitary gift of our LORD—the children HE provides!

Go with me (back in time) to my younger self; my husband and I married young (age 19).  Whatever were we thinking!  We were in love, and we wanted to “make a life” together, so we married young, intent on WAITING five years before we had children.  Let me pause here and say:  GOD ALWAYS KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING!

We played; we enjoyed young, married life; we established a home; we made plans; we grew up together; we waited, then we decided it was time:  Five Years.  “We are ready.  We are ‘old enough’ to become parents.  Okay, God, go ahead, You can bless us with a child.”  (I think I actually thought those words.)

• So we waited.
• And we waited.
• Then we waited a little longer.
• “Okay, God, we are ‘done’ with this waiting game.”
• We became discouraged (or at least I did, month after month & year after year).
• Attending church on Mother’s Day became painful, and I even considered skipping it the twelfth (12^th) year of our marriage.

That year was 1998, and to be truthful, I just did not understand why God gave children to others but not to me (or to us).  Even my young high school students who did NOT NEED to become pregnant were having children (before they needed to have children).

• “I just don’t understand, LORD.”
• “I am ready, LORD; let us have a child, please, LORD.” (I remember praying those words.)

Now, I cannot speak toward the exact way my husband felt, but I knew how I felt, and it was horrible.  I questioned God; I became frustrated, hurt even.  I never became angry at God, but I just could not understand why He withheld His blessing of a child (from me).

That year, I remember praying & I remember how God brought me to a place of His Peace.  It was a beautiful place to be, one that I had not experienced before whenever I consider the fact that we remained childless.

• God is so good, all the time!
• All the time, God is good! (to us)

Amen!!!

As I said, I remember praying, and I also remember how God brought me to the exact place of His beautiful Peace & that day (in 1998), God was there—

• I felt His presence.
• I heard His voice.
• I knew He loved me.
• I remember praying a different prayer that day, one of a promise, of a vow, from me to my LORD, and one (now twenty-four years removed) I am reminded of each day.
• I promised—God—and a promise is a promise.  The Bible says so!
• I knew I could wait even longer, in patience.
• I also sensed within me how I would be okay even if the LORD chose for us to never become pregnant.

I must pause to say, “My, what a beautiful place God brought me to that day.”

• Be intentional.
• Make time for resting in God.
• Go to Jesus; go to a quiet place to be with Him.
• Build it into your schedule.
• Be mindful, and protect it at all cost (your quiet time with God).
• Seek a quiet place daily, one where work or the cares of the world will not distract you.

God grants us gifts: unimaginable gifts, unfathomable gifts, gifts of our work, gifts of our rest, gifts of children to love, gifts of our service to Him, & gifts we cannot even comprehend.  Our part is simple:  We are to Love our Father God!

• PRAY & LISTEN TO GOD.
• STUDY HIS WORD & LISTEN TO GOD.
• OBEY HIS COMMANDS.
• SERVE HIM FAITHFULLY.
• PRAY & BE STILL & KNOW GOD!
• MAY WE BE ALWAYS ENCOURAGED—GOD’S GOT THIS, WHATEVER “THIS” MIGHT BE FOR EACH ONE OF US!

In 1998, God blessed us with a child, a daughter.  I knew immediately God answered my prayer, and immediately I praised God for His answer to my prayer for a child.  I was so very thankful for this blessing, this gift of a child God had provided.  I remembered my promise, my vow, and I must admit I thought, “I’ll deal with that when the time comes,” not really sure how that would look.

Our daughter was an amazing gift, so beautiful, so wonderful, so ‘everything’ we could ever imagine.

I must pause right here and say that from the beginning (from age 19), I thought I wanted six children, ALL Boys, but God is God & He always knows what He is doing & He knows the plans He has for us!

Life went on; our daughter grew up to become a teenager. While we only had one child (a daughter), still, life was good.  We had a dining table within our kitchen, but since we were three in family number, whenever we sat down for dinner, we always sat at the kitchen counter because three seats were all that we needed.

As, our daughter grew, I was so very thankful for this blessing, this gift of a child God had provided.  I remembered my promise, my vow, and when she moved to Europe at age 19 with her husband, I came face-to-face with my promise to God—“LORD, if You will bless me with a child, then I promise God, I will not complain when You move her far away from me.”

Go with me into my place of employment and stop at my classroom.  Go back in time to the year 2015, and little did I know that my life would change with the knock at the door.

Now, the story is long & most definitely a “GOD-SIZED” story.  Let me just say this:  GOD IS GOD & HE ALWAYS KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING & HE KNOWS THE PLANS HE HAS FOR US!

•  God is so good, all the time!
• All the time, God is good! (to us)

Amen!!!

In 2015, the LORD blessed us with a second child, a teenager, a child from another country, a child I could not have ever imagined.  That October day when she walked into my classroom, my life changed, & my future changed. God changed my life, & He did this twice!   Suddenly, we could no longer sit at the kitchen counter because we were now a family—not of three but four.

Now, years later looking back, I see how their placement in my life has grown me in the LORD, how this walk has developed me in ways that I could never fathomed.

Behold, children are the LORD’S gifts—gifts we have done nothing whatsoever to deserve!

I am so very thankful for this blessing, this gift of a children God has provided. This second daughter (who I did not even know existed until 2015) was also created by God in 1998)—THE EXACT SAME YEAR AS OUR FIRST DAUGHTER & THE EXACT SAME YEAR AS WHEN I MADE MY PROMISE TO GOD!

• God is so AMAZING, all the time!
• All the time, GOD IS AMAZING!

For a time, both girls lived in Europe (a plane ride & 5,000+ miles away from me), and now, they still live far away: one a road-trip away & the other still a journey in a plane.  Truly, I remembered my promise, my vow to God every single day—“LORD, if You will bless me with a child, then I promise God, I will not complain when You move the child far away from me.”

• God reminds me daily of my promise. &
• Every single day, God reminds me daily of HIS GOODNESS!
• God reminds me daily of HIS WONDERFUL GIFTS HE GIVES TO US!

Jeremy Camp sings a wonderful melody “When You Speak” that shouts out the truth of what I am attempting to write.  Please pause, grab your earbuds, and listen through song to the Truth about the Amazing God Who Loves Us So Much!

• God is so good, all the time!
• All the time, God is good! (to us) Amen & Amen!!!