Friday, January 24, 2020

Declare His Goodness


Hello beautiful people! Happy 2020! It's been so long since I've written a blog, but I am making it a goal of mine to be more consistent this year, so here's to a fresh start :)

This season of my life has been quite the journey, but also better than anything that I could have come up with myself. While things are definitely not looking like I had imagined they would right now, the Lord has been so faithful to give me peace and joy and continue to show His faithfulness right here in the middle of it all. It has been absolutely incredible to me just to see how the Lord has proven Himself again and again, not in ways I expected Him to, but in ways that go beyond my understanding and beyond my way of thinking. It reminds me again that He can be trusted and He truly does have every detail of my life all figured out!

I have been held steady in a season that would have previously resulted in panic. I have been led this far by faith, knowing and trusting that God cannot lead me wrong and resting in the fact that He is not done yet (can I get an amen haha!). I have learned the beauty of allowing the Lord to rewrite all of the plans I have made for myself. I am learning how to let go of my idea of good, so that I can trade it in for what His goodness truly is.

Has it been easy? Not particularly. Have I found myself frustrated at times and wanting to doubt God? Absolutely. But the cool thing about God is that even in moments where I wanted to doubt and wanted to believe that everything was falling apart, He so faithfully and gently reminded me that I am in His hands. I am being held so closely to the Maker of this universe. Nothing in my life (or yours) has gone missing from the sight of the Lord. His love is faithful and true, and no word of His will ever return to Him void, but it accomplishes all that it has been sent to do (Isaiah 55:11).

And that, my friends, is what has brought me so much peace and comfort and confidence this season. Though outwardly it may seem like I am in a valley, inwardly I have begun to see that it is actually not a valley, but a lush green landscape, where I am constantly seeing the Lord in a new way and being refreshed by the goodness of the Lord day after day after day after day.

In this season of my life where it is easy to complain and grumble, I have learned to declare the goodness of the Lord. I love the lyrics in the song Way Maker that say "Even when I don't see it, You're working. Even when I don't feel it, You're working." God's goodness is not something that we have to see or feel in order to know that it is always at work for us in our lives. It is who He is, and He never changes! Though we go through good and bad seasons and find ourselves dealing with the ups and downs of life, we can be confident in the fact that God is who He says He is and that there is absolutely nothing in life that can change this. No valley, no drought, no sorrow, no death, no struggle, no burden, NOTHING can change the fact that God is good. And because that is His very nature, He is continually and constantly being good to us. God cannot do anything that is not rooted in His goodness. May we find comfort in that today.

Life changes. We all know this. Sometimes for the good, and sometimes for the bad. And sometimes life changes overnight, with no sign or warning to let us know that that change was even on the horizon.

And yet, even in these changes and difficult situations we may find ourselves in, we can rejoice and declare His goodness. Why? Because though we don't enjoy pain or hardship or suffering, we can find God's goodness in the midst of those things. Now, don't get me wrong. I am not saying that these things are good– but what I am saying is that God's goodness can be magnified in the midst of them. Think about it. If you take a flashlight into a bright room and shine it, you won't be able to tell that it is even there. But if you take that same light and shine it in a dark room, you will see very clearly that it is shining. It's not that the light itself has changed, but the environment that the light is in has changed. Similarly, though God's goodness is all around us in every season of our lives, sometimes it takes the harder seasons for us to see it more clearly.

In whatever situation you find yourself in today, I pray that you would really take the time to see God for who He truly is. Not for who we think He is, but for who He truly is. The One True Living God, the Creator of Heaven and the Earth. The God who loves you so much that He sent His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on your behalf, that you might be able to enter into an everlasting relationship with Him, beginning here on earth and lasting throughout eternity.

God's goodness has not left you, and it never will (Jeremiah 32:40). May we make His goodness the declaration of our hearts in 2020 and beyond. He's good, y'all. So so good. Through all that you are facing, you can declare His goodness with confidence, knowing that it is true. Now and forevermore.

May the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Shalom,
Elisha

P.S. Here's a song for you to enjoy! Listen to the lyrics until the words ring true in your heart. ♥︎ Never Lost | WorshipMob