"So Merciful"

"All things work to the good..." We sometimes don't see this happening while we are in the midst of something that seems as though it might be a trial. But, when we step back and look at our struggle from a different angle, we can begin to understand how His mercies really are "New every morning". If you do not believe that is so, then you should try and practice it for yourself next time you think you are in the midst of a trial: stop, take a deep breath, think of your situation from the point of being for the good, and remember just how merciful our God really is! It is not a matter of how God will work things to the good, but how we react to what He is working in us. Do we see that? Can we? Sometimes I think we seriously overlook that very simple fact; trying to look for what God might be doing to our situation, while all the while, He is wanting us to see what He is changing in us. If I could only be here, or be there; if I could only have this, or have that, then everything would be alright; when it is not where or what that He is concerned with, but who we are in our relationship with Him. Do we really trust Him to work all things out to the good? or do we just hope that He will work things out the way we want them to be? And, it is not that we don't think that we trust Him, because I believe that most of the time we think that we do; but most of the time, our thinking is really not what matters; but what really matters is the reaction of our heart, and how it reacts to His unfailing mercy. That is where are trial becomes a test!!! We can think all that we want, but if we are not trusting Him with all of our heart that He is merciful towards us, then the outcome of our trial may not really matter at all. In other words; trust is a future tense thing, and is based upon the fact that we believe that no matter what the outcome of any matter is, He is going to work it out for our good! Having said that, I am reminded how that our trust is a present tense reaction to a future tense outcome; which is based upon the fact that His mercies are truly new every morning... "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:22 & 23)