But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:37-39
Have you ever had one of those days? No, I don’t mean the bad kind. I mean the kind of day where you wake up on the right side of the bed and everything goes right? Somehow, miraculously, you’re living a charmed life on easy street?
All the lights are green on the way to work.
You just happen to stop at Target on a major mark-down clearance day.
You get a raise or a promotion or a pat on the back.
Your daughter gets called to the principal’s office – for a special award.
The new puppy pees outside.
The new baby sleeps through the night.
You have a good hair day.
It does happen. Some days really are awesome. You get to spend time with the people you truly enjoy – or perhaps you get to spend time alone, soaking up the peace and quiet. You accomplish something that is important to you, or maybe you do something just for fun, for once. And you want to jump up on top of something and shout, “I’m king of the world!!!”
Well, maybe not.
On those rare occasions, super amazing good days leave me so thankful, so overjoyed . . . and a little bit nervous. Because I JUST KNOW that even though every good gift is from God and He has plans to prosper me and He works for good in my life, trouble is most likely just around the corner. As the pastor at our old church used to say, “If you haven’t faced this particular problem, just buckle up.”
I’m not sure this looming fear of what’s around the bend is sound theology or a good approach to life in general. But thinking about how it is my tendency, this opposite of counting chickens before they hatch thing, has made me wonder about how I view more challenging times.
When life gets hard, when Easy Street is a distant memory, when nothing goes right at all, do I treat those seasons as temporary the way I do my good days?
When the lights are red and I get a speeding ticket, when the puppy chews on my new shoes and dinner burns and the baby has The Worst Rash Ever, when my daughter brings home a note for talking back in class – AGAIN, when my co-worker takes credit for my hard work – do I think to myself, “Just buckle up, because this is when things get real good?”
Most often . . . no. I don’t. I get bogged down in the everyday and the difficult, and I forget. I forget about God’s plans to proper me and His work for good in my life. I focus on words like, “Ugh! Not again!” or “That’s so not fair!!” or “WHY ME?” and fail to pull up Truth and encouragement like, “And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us? And if our God is with us, then what could stand against?”
And that’s just it. God IS FOR US. And nothing – no bad day, no rough week, no hard season – can stop that. No, nothing! No Debbie Downer reaction, no loss of hope, no belief that blessings are fleeting while problems are forever. NONE OF THAT will make God’s love any less real, any less true.
He is FOR US. He LOVES US. And not even my attitude or outlook can change that.
Whew! I don’t know about you, but I am so very grateful that I’m included in that list of what cannot change the very nature of God and His love for me. I pray that today you rest in this truth. NOTHING can separate you from God’s love. Hard times, hard hearts – they simply can’t change who He is and who He loves (you! I mean you!).
Let’s not forget this anymore, friends. Write it on your mirror, bookmark it on your laptop or phone, memorize it in your heart:
For I am convinced that [NOTHING] shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Mary,
I exactly needed this today. Exactly these words and exactly these verses.
These were the verses that will make my days – now and forever.
Be blessed and feel very hugged,
Rosie
Love this. . . so true. Thank you for the reminder today!
Mary,
I can so relate. When good things are happening, I find myself subconsciously buckling up for the shoe to fall. What a great way to turn that “logic” on its head and look at the hard trials as the temporary and fleeting experience. Truly if He is for us, who can stand against us? I needed this great reminder this morning…wonderful post!
Blessings,
Bev
Thank you for this today Mary. I have to go out and shovel MORE snow here in New England this morning and I’m going to consider myself lucky that I have a home with a driveway that needs shoveling so that my car (which runs well) can get out. How’s that for seeing the bright side?
I do this ALL. THE. TIME… When life is good I think ” uh oh, wonder what’s next” how wrong/backwards/lifestealing is that???? I’m going to make a conscious effort to turn that around! Thank you (truly!) for pointing this out. He is FOR me 🙂
Thank You.
I kinda like it when it’s all a surprise what the LORD will make out of every single situation. Good or bad. I just stand in the midst of Christ JESUS in the storm. Or in HIS LIGHT. Well, we are always ever in HIS LIGHT, right. But what HE can do is amazing.
Happy.
Happy happy day you’re having.
🙂
I’m with this cold. Had it nearly all week and it just all got worse on Thursday Friday Saturday and today. But think the worst is over and on the mend.
Touched the GLORY of the LORD and played with it today in worship and it’s healing healing healing.
Love the part where JESUS is the HEALER.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V0rgrt1nTM
This is a lovely song. I love it.
All things work out for JESUS’ good anyways, no matter what.
🙂
Happy. In spite of my cough and cold. On the mend here.
Raise your hand if you needed that little bit of spiritual butt-kicking today. *hand up*. 🙂
Learning to see God’s grace in everything is a discipline that needs to be intentional every moment, minute, hour of the day. And, it’s definitely not easy. But, I believe we focus on the moments of grace, all of them, we will not only be a blessing to God but we will be blessed by God.
God is so awesome!!! I co lead a group. Some of our members have been struggling with persevering through extremely difficult times. I have been praying about how to encourage them. Your post today was the perfect answer. Thank you!!!
I was so blessed and strengthened by today’s scripture. A friend quoted that verse to me last week because I am really going through difficult times and today again the Lord is talking to me about it. I am so grateful to Him and thankful to you for allowing God to use you to minister to me in this great way. Thank you very much
Mary,
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
This year started out kinda stressful for my family. My aging father is/was ready to move into assisted living – just waiting on a room. Oldest sister visits and does a few chores at his apartment then leaves. Next day a room is available and I spent a lot of time taking dad to doctor’s appointments, interviews, getting paperwork ready, etc. Finally took 2 days off near the end of the month and with my sister’s help we got dad moved. Praise God it didn’t snow any more on move day.
Now we have most of the end paperwork done–changing addresses, canceling insurance, etc. Been stressful, but thankfully God saw us through it all. Best yet God helped me sell my dad’s car within 1 day of talking about it to a co-worker.
It is usually hard when going through rough times to feel God there-even though I know it in my head. I must remember those verses and recite them often.
Blessings! 🙂
So trying to get out of my J-O-B blues… – well lack of job actually. laid off TWICE in less than 6 months, feeling sorry for myself and throwing a pity party- so not pretty and not very “me” as I usually am upbeat, confident and filled with trust that Jesus is working this out for my GOOD.
Am going to spend more time in prayer this week and reading the word to help me out of this mood… such a great article and hit my heart and my head.
Appreciate the prayers and will be praying for the ladies before me. Thank you all for your words they encourage me.
Thank you … thank you …. thank you.
I needed this today….can’t seem to see the blessings when the ice dam on my roof has caused leaking and the tax man says I owe this year. But, you reminded me that God loves me and is blessing me in a million ways each day. Thank you!!!
Wow, you brought new meaning to that verse for me. NOTHING can separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. What a great thing to memorize.
PERFECT!!!!!
I really like your idea of buckling up, because it’s now it’s going to get real good! You’re right we always are waiting for the bad stuff to happen, but when God is in it, then we know good is going to follow. Thanks for this attitude changing idea.