God’s Goodness
In 2005 I spent a year working in England. It was a wonderful but wearying year as I worked and lived in people’s homes caring for their needs. These needs more-often-than-not included emotional as well as physical care, for a lot of the people I was assigned to suffered from dementia or Alzheimer’s. During this year I rarely enjoyed a Sunday off where I could attend church. Surprisingly this absence of corporate worship or a pastor resulted in my relationship with God getting stronger and more personal as I relied on Him.
At the end of the year I was on a coach bound for Heathrow International Airport, and a long journey home to family and friends. While sitting in a near empty bus, with only my walkman for company, I asked God for a favour. “God, can You please show me that You love me?” Almost as soon as the words were out of my mouth, I regretted them. “I’m sorry”, I said. “You are probably really busy and have way too much to do without me making silly requests like that. Please don’t worry about it. I know that You love me. I don’t need a sign”. I settled back in my seat and focussed on the praise music coming through my ear phones.
As I gazed out at the lovely English countryside I noticed how overcast the sky was. There was ‘not enough blue to make a sailor a pair of trousers’ as the old saying goes. So imagine my astonishment when, before my eyes, the clouds slowly parted to form a big, beautiful heart-shaped patch of blue in the middle of the bleak, grey sky. I thought about digging in my bag for my camera but I could not tear my eyes away.
I just knew that God had heard me. He had answered my prayer with a thoughtful and personal gift, and I thanked him with a full and grateful heart. Sometimes we can know in our heads that God loves us but His love for us is so much greater than we dare dream. Ask God today to show you His goodness and He will! Psalm 27:13 says I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Scripture taken from New King James Version
Word count 388
March 2014
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