God is good all the time! We say these words but do we believe them especially when things get rough. If this is true then maybe God put a few of those bumpy things in front of us just to fortify our faith. And he's good to get us better because of our faith to get over that bump.

I've had my share of mine. Don't have space to recount them all but we can agree that all of us have face situations that severely tested our faith. And we may have also faced things that bought us to faith. Whatever the circumstances, if you consider the view from God down to us, it either broke us, woke us or poked us to be where we are today,

Good news, God can repair any damage if we trust and believe in him. He can give us that wake up call when our faith is stagnant. And if we have given our life to Jesus then the Holy Spirit will poke us when we need a course correction. In all, it becomes a question. Do we believe God is really good or do we believe he is out to get us for our wrongs?

Writing to all those carried into exile (insert you in here if needed who are struggling with addiction or addictive sin, or just plain doubt), Jeremiah said this to them: This is what the Lord says: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:10-11

God is good all the time right? Wait a minute - they had to wait 70 years to get that promise. How many of us consider God's waiting period a little too bumpy to navigate and then get tired of waiting? We like the second part of that but the first? I think that the Lord in his infinite wisdom wanted us to make the most of that bumpy time to become better in order to make the most of his promise.

Bingo! And the winner gets a return home, prosperity, no harm and a whole lot of hope for the future. Yes the road to better is always bumpy, but that road also leads to a fulfilled life!

* Credit to T.D. Jakes for the title of this blog!

What do you see yourself as? What do you see when you look in the mirror? Better question, what would that mirror reflect if it were looking at your heart?

As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man. Proverbs 27:19

Who do you have a heart to serve? Yourself, the world, your family, God? The choices we make for that can form the patterns of our heart. Is my Vision to focus on my image, my imagination or the imaging of a man or woman reflecting the love of God?

In the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous in the Chapter titled A Vision For You, it warns us that these "Four Horsemen" can take us out if our vision is misplaced: Terror, Bewilderment, Frustration, and Despair. No one wants blurred vision, but my personal experience is that losing focus can quickly turn into one of those four. And when it does, our heart reacts, usually without love.

God has a vision for us: My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you. Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. Bind them with your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. Proverbs 7:1-5

Now that's some vision, making God and his ways the "apple of our eye" rather than all those other things that eventually become rotten apples. And if they are written on the tablets of our heart they are indelibly forged into our spirit that will reflect the greatest two commandments. Let me remind you what Jesus said:

You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important, love your neighbor as yourself. All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.

A heart of love reflects a vision of hope, encouragement, acceptance and forgiveness. In God's optometry that would be 20/20 eyesight focused directly on Him.

The original Big Apple!