The Good is the thing, the event, the outcome that will secure for ME the perfect and best alternative of the millions and billions of possibilities that are available in eternity.
Fear is a terrible thing.
People make a lot of poor choices based on fear.
People hurt people who they love. They leave their husbands and wives and children. People give away countless opportunities because they are afraid. People walk away from safety – ironically – because they are afraid.
When people experience clinical anxiety, their experience is one of extreme fear. During episodes of anxiety those people are unable to participate in their lives in a full and rewarding way. This is not to say that having anxiety precludes a person from living a fulfilled happy life, it is to say that a person who experiences clinical anxiety has to work hard on strategies to overcome their fear and to manage it.
And I have been thinking about fear and the nature of fear.
You see, fear is not true. Fear is the work of the Evil One. Fear is a manifestation of evil. You see, God is GOOD. God turns all things to Good. That means He turns the worst case scenario and the best case scenario to good. That means that there is never ever ever a scenario that could not be good. All scenarios must result in good. The good would be manifested in this life or the next one, but it will be manifested none-the-less. I will understand the good now or later but at some stage in all of eternity – with Faith – I will understand something of the good that came of all things. And if I do not understand the good, then I will understand a little more of God Himself and that little extra understanding will clarify for me that God Himself would only act for the Good.
And what is the Good? The GOOD IS MY BEST INTERESTS! The Good is the thing, the event, the outcome that will secure for ME the perfect and best alternative of the millions and billions of possibilities that are available in eternity.
And this is not an easy thing to accept. After all, to accept this a person must accept that their greatest loss and their greatest tragedy was a thing that occurred for them in their own best interests. To accept such a thing, I must accept that my youngest child who died before he was even born – the most heartbreaking thing in my life – was in fact the outcome that assures me of the greatest good in eternity.
And when it happened to me I was so afraid of a God who could allow such a thing that I was completely uninterested in considering that this could somehow be a good thing. But when the Holy Spirit came into my heart – through Grace and no merit of my own – years and years and years later, I understood in an instant that my child is my saint, and I cannot achieve salvation without that child’s prayers for me.
And in that moment, I understood that I truly have nothing to fear. For the worst happened to me and it was good. And only GREAT GRACE allows me to understand that truth today…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.