Praise in the Pain

Tuesday Matters- April 21, 2020
Everyday Bedtime Story

I still remember years ago returning home from my son’s skating class and thinking it probably wasn’t a good time to tell my husband Dan that our "check engine soon" light was on again even though the next day I had to make a drip which was 200 miles away. I didn’t tell Dan about the engine light because he was in the basement shop-vacing water due to a plug in our sewer line.  My journal indicates that Joey was 7 and he asked again for The Book of Job for his bedtime story. “Irony,” I wrote. But I was immediately struck by Job's response after all his belongings and children are taken away; "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.  BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD."

Eventually, I had all four boys in bed and while I was folding laundry I had a peace wash over me as I repeated over and over, “Blessed be the name of the Lord.” No matter what happens there is peace not because all that happens is good but because God always is good…everyday.