Is God good? Is God kind? In rough seasons of stress and anxiety, seeing God’s goodness and kindness becomes difficult. We become blind to the truth of God, because God is good and God is kind. How I See God’s Kindness I grew up in rural Kentucky, but don’t think a farm family. We lived surrounded by tobacco and cows, but the closest we dealt with farm life was calling the neighbor when a cow got out. We lived on…
The gravel slowly became more washed out four wheeler trail than road. Out the driver window, you could reach out and touch a steep dirt wall and out the passenger side, you could look down the edge of a sharp drop off. At one point, the wheels of my 2002 Ford Mustang were turned towards the wall as we slid down a hill, trying to avoid the drop off.
I almost missed these moments because I feared consequences instead of resting in the character of God. I have seen God work in my hesitations and processing; I have felt the weight of consequences for disobedience. That is the graciousness of God – giving life when we deserve death and he allows suffering because of his desire to see us become more like him.
I really love the story of Joseph, it’s what encouraged me to start writing. Joseph shared two dreams with his brothers and as an only child, when I first read the story I really didn’t understand why his brothers got sooooo hostile about it. Then I spent some real time around siblings and it all came together. Joseph, insecure about being the youngest or emboldened by being the favorite or both, shared his dreams to shake things up. Joseph’s brothers…
Jesus, who knows grace – the type of grace which serves dinner to his traitor; the type of grace which suffers the cross; the type of grace which leaves linens folded in a tomb after being falsely arrested, scourged, and crucified – that type of grace.