The Lord is good

“The Lord is good and His mercy endureth forever.” (my paraphrase)

     That verse keeps coming to mind at random these days. I am assured of it when mindful of the Lord’s blessings; I remind myself of it when I wonder how I can handle my life. He is good--always. Thursday it took on a new dimension.

     “Off to my first chemistry quiz!” I told Kendall as I passed her studying in a hall at school. “Oh don’t worry about it! You’ll be fine!” She assured me, recounting her experience in the class last fall. I really felt pretty good about it. I knew I had studied to the best of my ability, so all I had left to do was give it my best shot. 

     Several minutes later as I looked down at the first few quiz questions, I began to feel a bit apprehensive. These ones are harder than the ones on the practice quizzes! Maybe it will become easier later on—and hopefully I get the Extra Credit Questions at the end. Some of it was a piece of cake, but some of it wasn’t. When I found myself stumped over a strange unit conversion only halfway through the quiz I decided to stop and pray. I surrendered my quiz completely to the One who is the creator and master of chemistry and asked that He would guide me through the quiz if it was His will and give me peace with whatever lay ahead. With that, I continued. More puzzling questions lay ahead, which I had to skip over for the time being, and the EC questions at the end were disappointingly difficult. However, as I progressed, the solutions to what had been stumping me on previous problems came flashing into my head and I was able to go back and solve them. With the answer blanks suddenly filling, that verse came to my mind again, “The Lord is good and His mercy endureth forever.” He is good. I could hardly believe this was really happening to me, but at last I had completed my test, given it to my teacher, and found myself dashing off across campus to work. The Lord is good. He cares about me. He cares about the small things. He is my friend, and He is faithful.

     That night, I found myself grappling with another problem—a decision that seemed to have no answer. I had prayed and prayed and prayed that the Lord would show me the way and it seemed that Heaven remained silent on the matter. I knew I couldn’t find the answer myself; I knew God had a solution; I knew that He would reveal His will to me at the time necessary. This night it seemed that perhaps the time would never come. I needed my answer right away. I must admit that doubts ran through my head just then, but then the experience of but a few hours before came to mind along with that verse: “The Lord is good, and His mercy endureth forever.” He is good now too, just like always, I reminded myself. Then the question came flashing into my thoughts, “Can you wait just a little bit longer?” well, I thought, sure I can. Where has my faith fled to anyway? With that I began reciting to myself “The Lord is good and His mercy endureth forever” time and time again emphasizing a different word each time. The more I said it the more real it became. Before dropping into bed late that night, I prayed that the Lord would help me to find strength/direction in His Word. I pulled up the EGW app on my iPod and found it open to Ps. 27—about waiting on the Lord and seeking Him always. Then for some reason I decided to search the word “dwell.” Randomly I chose a passage from the midst of the search, Ps. 107. Beginning in verse four, I read to the end of the chapter. This time it was all about God’s guidance of His people and how He always came through for them. Most importantly to me, every few verses it said, “Oh that men would praise the Lord…” Where had my praise gone? With the assurance that I should simply continue to wait on the Lord and praise Him in the meantime, I decided to look at verses 1-3 before concluding. To my amazement, verse one says, “…for He is good: for His mercy endureth forever.” He is. Always. Before I had even rolled from bed the next morning, my answer had come. 

Blogpost written by: Ellie K. (Note that the account was originally written in early October).

The View from the Top

A couple months ago, I flew up to northern Maine to visit my grandparents for a couple weeks. This was also where we used to live, so I got to see many old friends as well. It was definitely a blessing to see everyone, and spend time with my grandparents! 

Mt. Katahdin, the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, is located within an hour and a half of my grandparents' house. We have hiked in Baxter State Park many times before, but this time I wanted to hike Knife's Edge. 

This section of the trail is 1.1 mi long, and is right on the top of the mountain, with thousand foot drops on either side. I had wanted to hike this trail for several years, but had never done it. While I was visiting my grandparents, I decided that this was my only chance to do it, and I decided that I was going to hike it. Even if I had to do it alone. (I tried to find some hiking companions, but no one was available at the time.)

My grandma reserved a lean-to "cabin" at a campground in the park, and we stayed there for a couple nights. Early in the morning, I started off on my hike. 10 miles and many hours later, I walked tiredly, and yet triumphantly back to my grandparents car. I had done it.

But while climbing, I learned lessons. Lessons of trust. Lessons of beauty. Lessons in faith. Lessons in prayer.

I didn't hike alone. Jesus and the angels hiked with me. The lesson and blessings gained from this experience, I wouldn't trade for anything.

But the thought that I am holding onto right now is this. The view from the top of the mountain was spectacular. Nothing could obstruct my view of the changing leaves on the trees far below. The great blue sky. The ponds and lakes glittering in the sunshine.

True, the hike was long and grueling. For several hours, I didn't have any spectacular views to enjoy. It wasn't easy. But when you get up on the mountaintop. You see the beauty. The long hike was worth it.

Friends, the same is true for us in our daily walks of life. We are hiking a mountain. Many mountains, in fact. Sometimes every day is a mountain to climb. The climb isn't easy. It isn't painless. But isn't the unobstructed view when we reach the top worth it? When we can clearly see how the Lord has led us, and we can see His goodness without obstruction.

The path may be long. It may be rough. And sometimes you might even stumble. But Jesus will hike with you, and give you the strength. And when you reach the top, you will praise Him. Because He is good. He is beautiful.

And then. When you hike back down into the valley from the mountaintop again, treasure the mountain top experiences. Treasure the memories. Review the past. "We have nothing to fear for the future, except we forget how the Lord has led us in the past." - E.G.W Another mountaintop experience will come if you keep climbing. The valleys don't last forever. 

God is beautiful. 

Every upward step is worth the sweat, the pain, the tears.

So keep climbing those mountains. And when you have those unobstructed views of Him, share them with others. It might just give them the courage to hike those mountains too, and gain those experiences for themselves. 

Keep climbing! 

Blogpost written by: Harmony M. (Originally published on hegivethmoregrace.weebly.com. Edited).