Resting in His Kindness

A few weeks ago, my family of seven was struggling under the weight of being quarantined. Everyone seemed restless and tired of being home.

At dinner, I tried to shake things up a bit and suggested we play a game of Duck, Duck, Goose. Everyone was excited. Our round table was perfect for this type of game. My nine-year-old started slowly saying, “Duck,” as he touched each person. Suddenly he shouted, “Goose!.” The race was on. My daughter chased him around the table, and he giggled with joy as he barely plopped into his chair.

The evening of chase broke up the mundane and brought joy to my kids.

Psalm 23:6 says, “Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life”

This follow is much more than a little stroll or like the follow my kids do to me all day long. It’s a relentless pursuit. Much like the game of Duck, Duck, Goose, God is chasing after us with his goodness (kindness And pleasure) and mercy (compassion). He longs for us to feel overtaken with his goodness and kindness, because the truth is, we can’t outrun God’s kindness and goodness.

I sat, wondering if I experience God’s kindness daily. Do I act as if his kindness is overtaking me? When was the last time I giggled with joy knowing and believing God is chasing me with his kindness and goodness?

Do we live our lives from this place of knowing and experiencing God’s kindness?

It’s one thing to read about it or hear preachers and pastors talk about it; it’s another thing to live from His kindness no matter the circumstances. We believe in God. We quote all the perfect verses, yet feel as though He is far off and cannot be intimately known. Or we believe He exists, but don’t feel the need to seek Him in our daily lives earnestly.

Ephesians 2:7 says, “He (God) might display the immeasurable riches of His grace through His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”

Romans 11:22 tells us to, “remain in his kindness.”

Here’s the truth friend: amid the chaos of a cheating husband, a wayward child, a debilitating addiction, failed financial venter, devasting diagnosis, or a national pandemic God is chasing after us with His kindness. We’ve got to have faith God is kind.

Since God is kind and good, we can be 100 percent confident that even in the confusion of the circumstances, God is for us. He is with us. God is pouring out his wisdom for us. He is carrying us through and using all things to make us more like him.

How do we live out remaining in God’s kindness?

Meditate on His Kindness

Think about how you feel when you’ve experienced someone else’s kindness. Someone drops off an unexpected gift, your special love one surprises you with flowers, or you receive a card in the mail with a particular word of encouragement. You feel loved. Wanted. Seen. Known. God, in His infinite glory, wants us to bottle this feeling up and be overtaken with His kindness daily to love others and bring glory to his name.

Meditate on his kindness. Post verses up to remind you. Remember all the times God poured out his kindness through others. In those moments of questioning the character of God remember his kindness.

Slow Down

It’s becoming increasingly clear to me life happens in the slow. Yeah, we may feel accomplished when we’re checking off our to-do list, but our character is developed, and wounds are healed in the in-between moments when we think nothing productive is happening.

We have to slow down long enough to experience his kindness. Whether or not we believe we are worthy of it is of no consequence, because we have access to His benefits by the mere fact that we are his.

In the slowness, keep a gratitude journal. When we choose to be grateful we can see his kindness in the middle of any circumstance.

Stop Saying “Why Me?”

I think the hardest time to feel his kindness and goodness is in the middle of a battle. It’s easy to proclaim God’s kindness on the mountain top, but can we proclaim it in the valley too?

Ann Voskamp wrote, “Suffering that does not break us away from more of this world and break us into more of God is wasted suffering. Love will always make you suffer. Love only asks, ‘Who am I willing to suffer for?’ The only way to avoid pain and brokenness is to avoid love.”

Suffering pulls us deeper into God’s kindness.

We have to remember that even in the battle, he sees us. He sees how hard we are working to keep ourselves and our family together. He sees our tired eyes and knows our spirit is weary. The battle feels too big, the pain feels too consuming, the other side feels out of reach. He knows questions are swirling in our mind, and he knows our struggle to keep fear at bay. He is right there with us. Oh, sweet friend, he has never left you. His goodness and kindness are chasing after us.

Even though all you can see are uncertainties, hold tight to this truth.

His kindness is overtaking you, and the joy that a child feels being chased is what he wants you to experience.

Lea Turner is a wife and mother of five, three who grew in her belly and two in her heart through adoption. She is on a journey of resting fully in the love of the Father by letting go of striving and walking fully in her identity. She has a passion to inspire others to work from a place of rest rather then strive from a place of anxiety. Lea blogs at LeaTurner.com.