8/30/24- Earned Goodness

Do you believe you have earned everything good you have been granted in life?

That is a hard one to answer. And yet, is it? Start from how you entered this world. Conception hopefully started from a love union. You were already thought of and imagined. Your name was written in God’s book. The very gift of life was a gift to you.

The good moments that I can recall in my lifetime have changed the tragectory of my life. These good moments were not always what I had planned as my idea of goodness. These gifts of goodness ultimately blessed me beyond measure.

As a little girl, I dreamed of going to the Olympics. Although, part of me now realizes that that may not have been my dream after all. Because of my talent that was visible in a hometown scale, people were always coming up to me and saying, “You’re going to go to the Olympics.”

At age 15, I realized that the idea of me going to the Olympics, was far removed. It was this age, where I struggled and failed to qualify for Junior Nationals. This challenging phase lasted for two years. My body had changed, and so had my swimming, mentally and physically. This time of struggle was actually a good gift, and part of God’s plan to bless my life.

God knew what He was doing. His plan for my life has been the best plan. If I had gone to the Olympics, I probably would not have met and married my husband. I would not have the three greatest gifts of my life, our children. God’s plan has been the best plan for my life.

We think that God works in mysterious ways, but He has our hearts in visible focus. Ultimately, He longs to bring us back to Him, in this life and for eternity. His gift to us is the greatest gift after all….LOVE.

1 Corinthians 13: 4- 8

“Love suffers long

and is kind;

love does not envy;

love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely,

does not seek its own, is not provoked,

thinks no evil;

does not rejoice in iniquity,

but rejoices in the truth;

bears all things,

believes all things,

hopes all things,

endures all things.

Love never fails….”