Now.

I think God blew me away the last week and a half with His goodness.

Then came the test.

In areas that His goodness was so incredibly evident and big, He … backed off I guess. And it challenged me, and I felt like He was asking me… “Do you still think I’m good?”

Not that He was purposefully taking this stuff away, but… I think it was a test of my heart. It’s easy to say “God is good” when you’re receiving evident encouragement from Him and when there is no room for doubt to settle in.

But when there is room for doubt and questions to slip in; do you still think God is good? Do you still thank Him for the things He gives? Even when they’re taken away? All that God has given me is already His. He can choose to give and take away as He pleases.

The challenge for me is to be okay when He chooses to take away. To realize that all He can do is good. It is so hard through the trials to persevere and still see ‘God is doing this for my good’. It doesn’t usually happen like that for me. I usually complain and whine… but I am learning to be thankful. To continue to see the light of Him in my life.

After all, if we did not have hard times to go through, we would have no evidence of the journey God has brought us on. We wouldn’t have a reason to look back and say to someone going through something similar (or not so similar), and say ‘Hey man, God did this in my life! You can do it! Keep pushing on!’ It truly is such a beautiful thing when we can look at our trials with a thankful heart. It is amazing when you change your perspective and continue to choose Jesus even when it gets rough.

Seriously, the journey is so incredibly worth it! Don’t defile His name when bad things happen. I totally believe God takes us through circumstances and journeys that are painful just so that we can continue to see His glory shine. He continues to be my only Hero after the hard days. He is the only one who can fix it!

As a friend wrote me in a letter recently, after explaining all the difficult things going on and how much God is stretching and growing him he wrote ‘…we press on with praise on our lips.’

Ah, so beautiful. A brother walking through difficult days, but continuing to keep His eyes fixed on Christ and allowing nothing but Christ’s joy to absolutely shine through the cracks of his brokenness…

Nothing is sweeter than that.

“I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.” Psalm 69:30

“For the LORD comforts Zion; he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.” Isaiah 51:3