“Lord, give to me a quiet heart
That does not ask to understand,
But confident steps forward in
The darkness guided by Thy hand.”
– Elisabeth Elliot
Oh dearest sisters, I have so many things that I want to share with you, and I’m having a hard time sticking to one subject every time I’ve sat down to begin this post. So bear with me… I feel ramblings coming on this week.
How my world has changed since the last time I shared with you all on Greenlight. For us here in Joplin, our lives are the tornado now. Everything is the tornado. You can’t drive anywhere without seeing it, talk to anyone without hearing it, and in turn bringing it up yourself as well. Fear is a real thing most of the time now. BUT thanks be to God our Redeemer! Oh, if it was not for Him I surely would fall. There have been many hard lessons that have come out of the tornado, and I praise God for them. So to begin my posts this week, I just want to share some of my heart, and what God is showing me through what I’ve seen.
There are certainly a lot of things I have been seeking to understand lately. With so much chaos around me and in my heart, it is so easy for me to stand bewildered- trying to make my mind understand fears deep in my heart. How is it that solid steel can be crumpled like a paper clip? How is it that we can get lost in our own city streets now, because we no longer can recognize where we are because of the ruble? “The orange X’s are on the doors to show that they’ve checked already to see if anyone is dead inside.” How did this sentence get into our vocabulary? Why are some lives spared, and others are not? I certainly don’t understand a lot of things that have happened.
But the striving to understand is the very root of the lesson God has been teaching me. He is showing me that He leads me, and that He is good. When I linger on the fears in my heart, the truth is that I’m really doubting and fearing His goodness. But when I linger on the goodness of His character, my soul can be quiet- knowing that He works all things for my good. His goodness does not only apply to me because of the uncertainty of my world after the tornado- His goodness applies to me for the rest of my life. When I am scared of the future- His goodness doesn’t change. When I get impatient in this season of singleness- His goodness doesn’t change. ALL things can be counted as blessing then when trusting that His character is good, and that He only has good things for me.
“I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation…” –Philippians 4:12
The truth of the unchangeable goodness of His heart is where my confidence is to step forward into uncertainty- trusting that in every situation, and in all things His goodness remains firm.
Going green,
Miss.
June 29, 2011 at 10:04 PM
Great post, Missy! It's funny that you decided to post about His goodness after the tornado. God had been preparing my heart even the morning of the tornado. While I was at CCOJ the morning of May 22nd, he gave me a word to share with the church. Psalm 16:1 says, "My God, you are my Lord, I have no good apart from you". I remember God had prompted me to share this verse and remind the church that "his goodness doesn't change". It blows my mind to think that 7 hours later, the tornado hit. I am in awe of His goodness.