God is Good - All the Time

Photo Credit:  Rachel Spurgeon

This week has been a week of waiting.  I have decided that the most physically demanding and labor intensive work a woman can find to do is not has hard on a person as when we are put  to the task of waiting.

Life has lots of waiting rooms; and in those waiting rooms we have a lot of time to think.  I know, I have spent quite a bit of time this past week in literal and figurative waiting rooms.  Waiting is hard.  In the past I have waited for many things:  offers on homes to be accepted, college tests to be returned with a passing grade, babies to be born, babies to be adopted, a strong willed child to repent, job offers to be extended…  The list could go on and on:  All times of waiting.

This week we have waited to see if my husband has cancer. 

I have been challenged these past couple of weeks to keep my mind from wandering during this time of waiting.  To stop the ping – pong ball from hitting all corners of my mind with doubt and questions that I cannot answer.  The only way I can do that it to focus on TRUTH.  It is the only thing that has made the waiting bearable – in fact, in some ways it has become a sweet time because I have been drawn into time of meditation on God and His goodness to me .

Waiting has become bearable this past week as I have focused on the faithfulness of God to me.  God has been so good to me.  His mercies are new every morning.  He never stops loving me.  He has given me everything I need to live the Christian life.  He never leaves me.  He is always FOR me – never against me.  He does not base His acceptance on me based on how I perform – I’m always accepted and cherished as one of His children.  Oh, I could keep going on and on.  Ever faithful! 

There is not a waiting room or a period of waiting that will leave me with more time than blessings to review. 

I have also found these past couple of weeks that the waiting has been so much easier knowing that others are praying for us and are holding us up in prayer.  I cannot even begin to tell you what a blessing it has been to read messages sent to us from friends telling us that they are praying for us!   I have been amazed at how God has used cards, texts, messages, phone calls and many other things to let us know that people are praying for us and that we are not alone.    Here is one example of how God used another sister in Christ to minister to me during a difficult time: 

While we were in the surgeon’s office she made it very clear that she was very concerned about what the symptoms that had arisen in just a few days.  She went on to explain that she had concerns that not only could the tumor possibly be cancerous but that we could be dealing with one of the most deadliest cancers on record.    My hands were shaking and my thoughts were racing as we made appointments for the biopsy to be done at the hospital.  I was disappointed when I walked out of the building because I had wanted to leave that visit having the worst case scenario checked off the list.   Not only was it not crossed off my list – it had been added to the doctor’s list as something to check for!   I sat in the car stunned and staring off into space trying to take it all in.  My phone was in my lap and when it buzzed I was brought back into reality with the following text message: 

 “Praying, Martie.  For you and Rob and the kids.  For God to guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  For him to take every overwhelming thought and protect you in His peace.”

That text was as much from God as it was from my friend living miles and miles away and not even realizing what we had just learned and the disappointment of my heart at that very moment!  God was using another sister in Christ to minister to me at the very moment I needed it!  My God is an awesome God! 

It has been a blessing to me to have friends praying, calling and sending me verses – just when I needed *that* verse.  It has been a challenge to me in my own everyday life to make sure that I follow the Holy Spirit’s leading when I am impressed to call someone, or send an email or a card.  God uses us to bless and minister to those whom He knows are hurting and in need of encouragement.  The bond of Christ has been a source of great encouragement to me – and has made the waiting room we are in at this time bearable.

Perhaps the source of greatest encouragement that has made the waiting bearable has been the focus on the eternal and not the temporal.   Waiting causes us to see life for what it really is.  In a moment the blinders can be taken off our eyes and we see how vain and empty so much of what we view as important really is.  This has happened in the last two weeks.  Heaven seems so much closer than it was a month ago.   It’s not, you know, our focus has just been adjusted. It’s been a good adjustment to see how fragile life can be – none of us is guaranteed tomorrow.  It’s been good for us to think about Heaven and all the wonderful things that await us there 

God is so good!  SO GOOD!  We will praise Him no matter what.  Today we will go into the surgeon’s office and we will get some type of news.  This part of the waiting will be over.   Decisions and treatments will be planned (even if there is no cancer – there is still a health crisis that needs to be addressed).  Today will mark the day when we look back to either the bump in the road – (when we had the big cancer scare) - or it will mark the day that cancer became a part of our lives.  God will be as good tonight when we go to bed as He was this morning.  He is good all the time.  We are going to praise Him no matter what the outcome; and we are going to thank Him for the blessings He brought along the way of waiting.  The time we have had to view His faithfulness to us, the blessing of being in the family of God and the wonderful promise that this life is not the end – this world is not our home and Heaven is just around the corner. 

Thanks for all your prayers – notes and encouragement through this time.  They have been a blessing to us.

God is Good – ALL THE TIME!