God is good...no matter what!

God is not who you think He is; He is who He says He is. –Clarice Fluitt

God is good...even when I don't understand what He's doing. Nothing in life changes His goodness which is a concept that I'm learning anew. It's one of those "understood" things about God that one day just hit me like a ton of bricks. Yes, we all know the saying..."God is good - all the time!" But a message from a friend of mine not too long ago made me realize even that God is good...when I'm confused...stressed...happy....lonely...confused...worried... You can fill in the blank with any words you choose and God will be good no matter what. It is a constant that is taken for granted and sometimes altogether forgotten. God gets thrown under the bus, so to speak, when life gets hard. All of a sudden our circumstances are affecting how we see God. Our circumstances do not change God. He was, and is, and always will be...no matter what. Our circumstances can change us, however...and most times they probably should. I read a passage on refining gold and silver last night. It's a hot, longsuffering job to purify them. So can our circumstances be used to purify us...bringing the bad stuff to the top so it can be skimmed out of our lives. Not fun, but necessary.

I can honestly say that a refining process has begun in my life. It's not easy, but I know it's for the glory of the One who created me. He wants the best for me and cannot allow the impurities to remain. My circumstances do not change His goodness...His goodness changes me. God loves me enough to do this for me. "He's still working on me to make me what I ought to be..." and I'm thankful to Him for loving me so much!