Stop saying God is Good

Stop.  Just stop.  It's like "everything happens for a reason." 

I'm not saying God isn't good.  But how can you reconcile a "good" God with one who allows a child to die. 

I like this description I read on the blog "Still Standing."

"You got the job! (God is good!)
You closed on the house! (God is good!)
That car barely missed you at the intersection! (God is good!)
You’re carrying twins! (God is good!)

See where I am going with this? Because the reality is that if you believe God is good, then He’s good all the time.

Like when you lose the job. Or the house is foreclosed. Or your car is totaled. Or the twins die.
And while I believe that to be true, because I believe the nature of God is unchanging…would you ever in a million years tell someone who just lost their baby to cancer: “Isn’t God sooooo good, though? Wow, didn’t He do it right?”"

I recently heard someone say how we find our calling in life is by the #&*! we go through.  The bad, horrible, painful stuff.

And while I don't disagree with the premise, because all the calling's I have found are directly as a result of the trauma's I've experienced.

But it floats around in your brain the same way "everything happens for a reason."

There is no reason that could ever be "good" enough to justify the loss of a child.  Or a spouse.  Or an illness of a family.  Or war.  Or crime.  Sure, good can come from a horrible thing but that does not JUSTIFY the bad.

When people share their pain with you, they aren't looking for comfort in the sense of "this too shall pass" or "good will come of this."  They just want a hug.  And validation.  That their pain is justified.  That they have a friend who will walk with them through this season.

And yes, good can come from it.  But maybe that's something they need to discover for themselves on the other side of the season.

Jesus Christ Superstar and Eating disorders

When looking to find the time of the Jesus Christ Superstar performance, I stumbled on something that stuck with me.  It was an article in People magazine sharing how John Legend started juicing in the past few days before the performance.   In it, John's wife shares how "John's eating really healthy now.  He has a shirtless scene he's really excited about, but he's actually starting to fast, like juice fast, starting today."

Eating healthy and juice fast?

As I sat and played with my beautiful daughter this afternoon and she was playing some sort of "animal adoption" game with her multitudes of stuffed animals, she set aside one with the comment of "this one is too fat to be adopted."  Moments later she repeats the scene.  When I interrupt her to ask her why she thinks the heavier animals won't be adopted, she just shrugged and said that her sister was saying that.

I was perplexed.  Diet has never really been a "thing" in our household.  Unless you count the diabetes diet, which thanks to gestational diabetes x2 was a thing.  But never the fad diets.

And it struck me tonight.  It is pervasive in our lives anymore, these messages of you are too heavy.  You need a diet.  Here's the perfect diet for you.  Things like the People article and the inference that a performer felt they needed to go on a crash diet to "look good for a shirtless scene" just leaves you in dismay.  Especially when you are working with a child with an eating disorder.

Even though her disorder is not linked with a body image issue but rather anxiety, her frequent statements like that sets off so many warning bells in my head.  How am I supposed to teach this child that beauty lies within when society is teaching that it lies on the surface?

I am reminded in this of the song by Zach Williams, Fear is a Liar.

"Fear, he is a liar
He will take your breath
Stop you in your steps
Fear he is a liar
He will rob your rest
Steal your happiness
Cast your fear in the fire
'Cause fear he is a liar"

 

Fear.  He is a liar.  Those voices, they are a liar.  You are beautiful as you are.  In your skin.

 

 

Believe it.  Own it.  Don't starve yourself so you feel that you "look" the part.