Twelve years ago, in my purple bridesmaid dress, I gave a speech in front of 100 plus people at my best friend’s wedding. The room was full of joy-filled faces. My heart was a mixed bag of emotions.
My dear friend, and roommate of five years, was off to the rest of her life. I was about to live alone for the first time—ever. And as I encouraged the couple in the next chapter of their life with a healthy mix of jokes and endearing words, my ex-fiancé sat there watching.
We had broken off our engagement two months prior. And there he sat, watching me deliver a speech that I had hoped to hear at our wedding.
That night I drove out of that golf resort alone. My heart was hurting on many levels. I was going home to a condo without another soul in it. I was embarking on a new and unwanted season of singleness. I knew this was only the beginning of a long, hard journey toward healing.
Recently I drove by that golf resort, and as I did Bethel Music’s ‘Goodness of God’ streamed through the speakers of my car. As the vocalists sang, “And all my life You have been faithful, and all my life You have been so, so good!” I couldn’t help but laugh—as I imagine the Proverbs 31 woman does when it says: “She laughs at the time to come” (Proverbs 31:25). That was such a hard and difficult season of life—I experienced the kind of pain I wouldn’t wish on anyone—but now, as I drove by that resort with my youngest child in the car, I got it.
It’s not that the woman in Proverbs doesn’t experience pain, disappointment, or adversity. It’s that she knows, deep in her bones, that He will come through. No matter how lonely and dark it might feel; and that is why she can laugh.
There is a very real evil one lurking in the background trying to make us think it’s all for loss, but there is an even greater One that is working it all out for our good. And we can be confident of that.
I pray you will believe this truth today, sister. He will be faithful. I have seen the Goodness of God.
