Good...all the time?

“This is the Lord's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.” Psalm 118:23

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been through lots of tough times in life. They certainly aren’t as tough as a lot of others, but they were tough for me, at the time.  I’ve been through a firing, two down sizes resulting in unemployment, two companies that had bankruptcies, three corporate mergers/buyouts, a couple of minor surgeries, lots of travel away from home and my family, some other not-so-fun-stuff and once I broke my toe while pulling my sock off (another blog...one day...maybe). 

There are other things that have not been fun and other things that I haven’t enjoyed, but I found out something during all those times. God is GOOD...ALWAYS!!! The verse above makes it pretty clear that it’s the “Lord’ doing” and I know that He is good, so I have had to look at the good in each of the items listed above and the others that were not mentioned.

I learned lots of lessons during those tough times and I wanted to share a few today:

1. I’m glad - really I am glad that I went through each of them. Now, if you had asked me at the time, I wouldn't have been so quick to say this, but I know that many things happened during those tough times that I needed. I only grow closer to Christ in the harder times and I only truly realize His provisions, His direction, His comfort and His peace during those times. By the way, I’m not saying that I want more of those tough times, either, but the lessons are still good.
2. It’s the best preparation time. Turning the soil (soul, in this case, maybe) is when the planting begins and the planting causes growth for the future. I don’t know what the future holds, but God does, so when He allows the the tough issues or times in my life, I need to get ready for what He has for me in the near future and long-term too. 
3. It’s when I focus best on Jesus. I pray more. I pray harder. I minister better. I’m impacted more and I impact others more completely because I become more tender, and I’m more aware of other’s needs during these times.

Not my normal blog, but this has been on my heart, so there it is.

Lessons Learned: Be grateful for the failure of tough times, because those times aren’t really failures.

Thoughts: What tough time are you going through right now? Are you learning? Are you growing? Are you trusting in the Lord?