Joy Comes in the Morning

There are days that you marvel at all God has made. All that He has done. The sky is blue and the birds are singing. Usually my children are behaving on those days.

But then there are days when you come face to face with pain. When no matter where you turn, the ugliness of sin and its scars on our world are all you can see.

When one friend battles overwhelming fear.

When another friend learns she has cancer.

When your own heart fails within you.

On those days, where is hope? When the darkness is deep, where is joy?

Tonight, we gathered our kids together and asked them what they wanted to read. They wanted to hear the story of Job. Together, we read and talked about all that Job had and all that was taken away. We talked about praising God no matter what life looks like. And we talked about how the goodness of God is not always what we can see. That God's idea of good is so much greater than we can grasp.

Our kids connected the text to a worship song we sing regularly at church - Blessed Be the Name of the Lord.

"Blessed Be Your Name when the sun's shining down on me.
When the world's all as it should be.
Blessed Be Your Name.

And Blessed Be Your Name on the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering,
Blessed Be Your Name.

You give and take away. You give and take away. My heart will CHOOSE to say
Blessed Be Your Name."

In the midst of uncertainty, I choose to bless the name of The One who will one day restore everything. Like the snow that blankets my yard, his love covers me. His Spirit encourages me. And I know that

Joy Comes in the Morning