interactions with this individual, if you found
yourself facing a significant challenge, how quickly
would you turn to him for help? How confidently
would you reach out to him? And how would you
expect him to respond to you? With coldness and
indifference? Or with focused love and attention?
With goodness?
When someone has been faithful over and over
again—and you’ve seen it, felt it, and frequently
thanked her for it—you don’t need her to part the
Jordan River this afternoon to convince you that
you can trust her. You already know it. You know her
heart. You already believe in her goodness. You’ve
been keeping tabs on forgettable things that by
their sheer quantity are able to far outweigh even
the unforgettable things.
of God’s goodness that have been escaping your
notice and that might just redeem your trust in His
love for you, I’ll be very surprised.
I understand if you’re skeptical that something so
simple could make any difference. Maybe to you this
smacks of head games, a sanctified form of self-talk.
Maybe it’s all a bit too sweet sounding for your taste.
Yet the reason it’s so powerful is precisely because of
the harshness of our reality. Each of us is desperate
for God’s goodness. We completely depend on Him
not only for His presence but also for confidence in
His good intentions.
If life were a Hallmark movie, sure, maybe we
could treat this cataloging of His daily kindness as
if it were all pajamas and hot chocolate and soft
Christmas music playing in the background. But
being aware of what God is doing in our lives every
day is essential to our hope and well-being, and it
adds renewed vitality to our relationships with Him.
Our relationships with the Lord are the same. The
everyday moments, the easy-to-overlook moments,
are actually what cement our relationships with God.
If you’re up against something hard or worrisome
today and you don’t know whether God is good
enough to want to hear you or answer you or care
about what you’re enduring and needing, could
I possibly convince you to do what we did? Find
something to write on or in. Any old notebook or
piece of scratch paper will do. If in a day’s time you
haven’t cataloged for yourself a few fresh reminders
If His goodness were only a bonus—if it were
capable only of taking our lives from maybe an eight
to a nine—then we could afford to schedule this
exercise once every few months. But tell me: Does
your life sometimes just barely make it into positive
numbers? Then if you’re not convinced every day of
God’s goodness—and are recording it, along with
the date and time, somewhere you can see it—you
might not be able to keep your head above zero.
I remember reading in the book of Psalms one
morning while we were in Cincinnati, and I came
across this incredible verse that spoke directly to
what my heart was feeling: “When my soul is in the
dumps, I rehearse everything I know of you” (42:6,
MSG).
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