Is Good Enough?

At Super Summer every year, we have "prayer time" every night with a small group of kids on our hall. This is really just a time to do a head count and make sure that everyone is where they are supposed to be, and as a TL, that's exactly the way I looked at it. Until last year. Last year at Super Summer, I was roommates with Stephanie--which by the way was one of the biggest blessings of my life! Anyway, every night, Stephanie not only spilled her heart and her love for our Savior to the awesome girls in our prayer group, but she also spilled it all out to our Father. The first night she prayed, I was super intimidated. I realized real quick that this strange blonde girl loved Jesus way more than I did, and because of that thought inching it's way into my mind, I never prayed in our prayer group, I always let Stephanie do it. These thoughts of intimidation and my weak spirit were something that Satan planted in my head to try and make me believe that my love for Christ was way too small, these thoughts that the Devil had intended for his purposes, God turned into His great and mighty purposes.

That's super confusing. If you're still with me, mad props. I promise it's about to get better. I think.

Okay--so every night Stephanie was praying. Got that much? Awesome. 

It was during her prayers every night that God really begin to stir in my heart, and hit me over the head with His voice. He was taking those thoughts that were planted in my head and morphing them to make me realize who He is. Okay so--every time Steph prayed, she would claim "God you are good and you are perfect" and the first few times I heard it, I just kind of brushed it off as something that people say in prayers. Until God hit me over the head with the fact that He is GOOD. I know that we go around all the time saying "Our God is good"--but have any of us ever really thought about what exactly that means? I know I sure hadn't. In the garden, when Adam and Eve sinned, we became a fallen world. We all know that. What we don't think of though is that the world was GOOD, and then it turned BAD. I mean, okay, maybe that's how we teach small children about the Bible, but do we ever stop and think of it as that way? When was the last time that you stopped and said, "Wow, God you are so incredibly good!"--and actually meant it? 

When we say that God is good, we need to realize that He is the ONLY good thing. That's right. They only thing in our lives that is good. I think that we, as believers, have decided that the word "good" isn't great enough to describe our God. We have to have songs about how "awesome" and "fantastic" and "great" our God is. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's not like those are bad adjectives, but what's wrong with our God just being good? That's how God even describes Himself and His work in the Bible. When did it become "uncool" or "not good enough" to describe God as good? If that's how He describes Himself, why is it not good enough for us to describe Him like that?

The truth is, that we have gotten so caught up in singing the right songs, and saying that right things, that we have forgotten the straight up truth. And that truth is that God is Good and God is Perfect. I know, that for me anyway, claiming He is good is one of the main things that constantly reminds me who He is. 

I know that, if you read all that, you're either confused, or sick of the word "good", but I feel like I just needed to vent a little bit, and remind myself that our Father is good and He works for the good of those who love Him. If it hadn't of been for Satan trying to tear me down last summer, I never would have heard the Father speak to me through Steph, and for that He is good. His love is good. His hope is good. His comfort is good. I'm in love with  the Creator of the Universe and that itself is stinkin' awesome, but the good thing is that He loves me too. 

Father, You are good and You are perfect! I thank you so much for that! I thank you that you speak to me when I least expect it, and that you love me regardless of my weak spirit. God, make me strong in You, so that I may scream your goodness to the ends of the Earth!

If you read all that and are super duper confused, I'm sorry. :)