The Sweetest Mother's Day Gift!

If God is Truly Good, He is Still Good When Life is Not

4 Minute Read

By Sarah Lango

woman with bible www.herviewfromhome.com — MIA Studio/Shutterstock.com

In the cool of the morning, while the sun still worked its way into the sky above, I sat on my deck overlooking the grassy back lawn, just taking it all in. I put on my favorite worship music, and sipped on my favorite coffee—oh how I love a nice hot cup of dark roast to start my day. I could hear my little girl giggling and singing—music to my ears. I observed as she ran about, and my heart was filled with joy for all the good God had provided. “Father, you are good,” I quietly proclaimed.

But, the thing about life is that nothing on this earth is promised. Quickly, my grateful heart twisted in knots, as I noticed my once joyful daughter now struggling, jerking about uncontrollably—another seizure that had taken hold of her little body and brain. Fear gripped my heart, and the praises I was singing just moments earlier suddenly morphed into panic.

You see, my young daughter has a form of epilepsy that has left us on quite the tumultuous emotional journey. In the blink of an eye things can go from good to horrible, without warning. This was one of those times.

In my heart and mind, this journey can so often tangle up the characteristics of my broken experience with the true character of my God.

Can you relate?

I mean, it’s relatively easy to proclaim that God is good when life feels good, but if that proclamation is our unchanging truth, it must remain firm even in the darkest of moments.

If God is truly good, He is still good when life is not.

He is still good when relationships are not.

He is still good when finances are not.

He is still good when health is not.

As humans, we have a tendency to define our understanding from our own experience. Still slowly I am learning that my circumstance in this broken life cannot define my God. No, He is bigger than all of this—any hard, hurtful, struggling thing you may face today.

And, as I grow through this walk I am reminded that we all have a choice in the matter. We can continue to stare the hard stuff in the face, taking in all of the moments that crush our spirit and dwelling on all the what ifs and why not’s.

OR, we can look into the eyes of our Savior;

The one who stays by our side as we walk through the darkest of valleys,

The one who gently lifts us up when life has knocked us down once more.

The one who has promised to always stay, even if no one else does.

The one who is love embodied, unchanged by our questions and wandering amidst the hard moments of life.

The one who is a steady hand when we grow weary.

A hiding place when the world threatens to overwhelm us.

Our strength when we have grown far too weak on our own.

As we face the most difficult moments in life, may the truth of Him be enough. May we recognize a Savior who has ultimately made a way for us, and one who is good, ALWAYS, even when what we currently face doesn’t feel so good after all.

Though we may never understand why He does not change our circumstance, that does NOT change HIM. He is still the faithful one, loving, compassionate, and trustworthy. He is STILL GOOD.

“For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You.” Psalm 86:5

“Praise the LORD! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting.” Psalm 86:1

Originally published on the author’s blog

You may also like:

And If Not, Is He Still Good?

God Meets Us In the Mess

“God’s Bigger Than You, You Know”

Want more stories of love, family, and faith from the heart of every home, delivered straight to you? Sign up here!

So God Made a Grandmother book by Leslie Means

If you liked this, you'll love our book, SO GOD MADE A GRANDMA

Order Now!

Sarah Lango

Sarah Lango is a wife, mom of 3, writer, speaker, disability advocate, Jesus follower, and coffee lover from small-town Missouri. She writes vulnerably about grief, joy, and finding God in the hard places of life. You can read more of Sarah’s writing at www.gracefilledgrowth.com.

Your Worth Is Not Someone Else’s To Measure

In: Faith, Living

Insecurity is something we all carry in one form or another. For me, it has probably always looked confident and outgoing from the outside. But internally, it can feel heavy, complicated, and exhausting at times. And when someone comes along whose behavior reinforces those insecurities, it amplifies what was already there. There was someone I had hoped to genuinely connect with, but it was clear from the start that the feeling wasn’t mutual. From the beginning, their wall was up. No matter how kind I tried to be or how carefully I showed up, it never came down. Their distance...

Keep Reading

Lord, Give Me Faith Like Hannah

In: Faith

Woman walking in field with hand in wheat

Hannah knew what it was like to feel forgotten. She often clutched her empty womb and thought Surely the Lord has forgotten me. She knew the bitter sting of feeling isolated and alone. She knew the anguish of praying day after day after day and seeing no fruit, not even a bud, from her faithfulness. Hannah knew what it was like to feel like the weight of the world was on her, and her hope may have dwindled. Even those around her did not offer encouragement. Quite the opposite—they did their best to sow seeds of discouragement. Yet Hannah pressed...

Keep Reading

God Carries Me Through the Deep Waters of Change

In: Faith, Living, Motherhood

“Ahhh!” My underwater scream garbled in my snorkel tube as the manta ray’s cavernous mouth swept a hand’s distance from my face. My fingers tightened around the surfboard until my knuckles ached. My arms trembled. I jerked my head side to side, searching for my daughters, Mia and Megan. Recent college graduates, they had joined me on one last mother-daughter vacation before launching their adult lives. They floated easily on the vibrant Hawaiian water, relaxed, trusting. I wanted to borrow their calm. Earlier, our guide had explained that the LED lights built into the surfboard attracted plankton the way college...

Keep Reading

Faith After a Rare Disease Diagnosis

In: Faith, Motherhood

My pastor frequently speaks of “kid pain” and acknowledges there’s nothing like it. I can testify to that. After nine months of uncertainty and unexplained issues following the birth of our now 4-year-old daughter, Harlow, we finally received her diagnosis of Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex Deficiency (PDCD), a life-limiting mitochondrial disease with no cure and no FDA-approved treatments. It was heartbreaking. In moments like these, a parent can fall into complete desperation. You go through a range of emotions almost too fast to name: fear for your child’s life; anxiousness about how much time you’ll get with them; overwhelming grief. And...

Keep Reading

What If I Don’t Hear God’s Voice?

In: Faith

There have been many times over the years when I’ve heard others share stories of how the Lord spoke to them or gave them a sign. Seashells scattered along a sandy beach, numbered to represent how many children they would have. A quiet walk in the park, followed by a clear sense that another little one was coming. What a blessing, I think, when I hear and read their stories. I often wonder how much more faith they must have than I do—to know with such certainty that what they heard was truly God speaking. I listen, I smile, and...

Keep Reading

God Holds You As You Hold Everyone Else

In: Faith, Motherhood

Mother holding toddler daughter on her hip, standing outside

She stands in the kitchen, hands trembling over the sink, tears she cannot let fall pressing behind her eyes. The world outside her window is quiet, but inside her heart there is a storm she cannot name. She is hurting, not because she does not love her life, but because somewhere along the way she forgot how to breathe inside it. Yet even in her pain, little voices call her name. Tiny hands tug at her shirt. Lunchboxes need packing, homework needs checking, hearts need holding. And so she wipes her face, forces a smile, and whispers a quiet prayer:...

Keep Reading

Yes, I Know Fear—but I Also Know Faith

In: Faith, Motherhood

Mother holding child's hands in hospital bed

The night my daughter woke up screaming at 3 a.m., I knew something was wrong. Her cry wasn’t the half-asleep whimper of a bad dream. Instead, it was pain—raw and sharp. Within an hour, we were rushing to the emergency room, the world outside our headlights still wrapped in darkness. Tests, scans, questions, and then the words no parent ever wants to hear: “We’re transferring her to another hospital by ambulance. She needs surgery right away.” They said “torsion.” They said “tumor.” They said “appendix.” I nodded, because that’s what mothers do. We stay steady, even when our hearts are...

Keep Reading

10 Years after My Mother’s Death, Her Faith Still Guides Me

In: Faith, Grief

Growing up, I was a reluctant Catholic. My mother would drag us to church, and I’d go through the motions—fingers moving across rosary beads without really feeling the prayers. But she never stopped. Sunday Mass, daily prayers, devotions to the Blessed Mother. She was relentless in her faith, not because she was trying to force it on us, but because she genuinely believed we would need it someday. She was right. My mother died of stage 4 colon cancer in 2012. My brother and I watched her suffer, saw how her body betrayed her, watched as treatments failed. And here’s...

Keep Reading

Finding God in the Middle of Disbelief: A Mom’s Journey through Faith and Fear

In: Faith

Mother holding hand of young child, silhouette

“But the Lord is with me like a mighty warrior; so my persecutors will stumble and not triumph over me.” – Jeremiah 20:11 God, thank You for making sure my son is okay. Thank You for this just being paranoia. I believe in You. I believe in Your control. I believe. I believe. I believe. These words streamed through my head as my husband drove us downtown to visit our first specialist with our 4-month-old son, Maximus. Our pediatrician had written me off, but I could not ignore the feeling in my bones that something was wrong. Tiny, hard bumps...

Keep Reading

In Praise of Indebtedness: How Threads of Reciprocity Weave Us Together

In: Faith, Living

It all started with tomatoes. After we moved, a neighbor invited us to pick from the abundance in her and her husband’s gardens. In return for a pile of tomatoes gathered from their raised beds, I left a plastic bag of homegrown pumpkins on their porch. Later that summer, our neighbor stopped by with a recycled container full of still more fruits. By the fall, we were sharing chili and cookies over dinner at our place. Threads of indebtedness were weaving us together. For most of my life, the idea of indebtedness has tasted rather repulsive on my tongue. The...

Keep Reading

This is Our Nightly Dance

Child

This is Our Nightly Dance

Facing Your Harshest Critic as a Mother Means Looking in the Mirror First

Motherhood

If God is Truly Good, He is Still Good When Life is Not

If you liked this, you'll love our book, SO GOD MADE A GRANDMA

Sarah Lango

Your Worth Is Not Someone Else’s To Measure

Lord, Give Me Faith Like Hannah

God Carries Me Through the Deep Waters of Change

Faith After a Rare Disease Diagnosis

What If I Don’t Hear God’s Voice?

God Holds You As You Hold Everyone Else

Yes, I Know Fear—but I Also Know Faith

10 Years after My Mother’s Death, Her Faith Still Guides Me

Finding God in the Middle of Disbelief: A Mom’s Journey through Faith and Fear

In Praise of Indebtedness: How Threads of Reciprocity Weave Us Together

Get It Now

So God Made a Mother

If God is Truly Good, He is Still Good When Life is Not

If you liked this, you'll love our book, SO GOD MADE A GRANDMA

Your Worth Is Not Someone Else’s To Measure

Lord, Give Me Faith Like Hannah

God Carries Me Through the Deep Waters of Change

Faith After a Rare Disease Diagnosis

What If I Don’t Hear God’s Voice?

God Holds You As You Hold Everyone Else

Yes, I Know Fear—but I Also Know Faith

10 Years after My Mother’s Death, Her Faith Still Guides Me

Finding God in the Middle of Disbelief: A Mom’s Journey through Faith and Fear

In Praise of Indebtedness: How Threads of Reciprocity Weave Us Together

Previous Post

Next Post

You May Also Like