Eternally Good Day

Several years ago a day happened that my  husband described as “really good.”

My son described it as “the best quality time I’ve ever spent with dad.”

I call it an eternally good day.

It was a day I worshiped how good our Lord is. I praised how He answers prayers. I praised the fruit born out of changed lives.

See, this eternally good day was preceded by a really, really bad day the week prior. The phone call came in about 8:30 a.m. “Mom, I just don’t even know why I should get up today.” No parent ever wants to hear those words.

We had known for a while that our child was not happy. We listened to him, encouraged him, provided counsel, tried to provide guidance yet leave the decisions up to him. We tried to convey our love to him. I’m not sure he really believed us.

The relationship between father and son had not always been easy during the growing up years. And even with the special bond boys have with their mommas, this was one of those times when a boy needed his dad. However, the side of the scale that held all the reasons to doubt dad’s unconditional love for him was heavier than the side that supported that love.

I have always prayed for the relationship between my boys and their dad. Praying that God heal, reconcile and restore. Praying that forgiveness, grace, and mercy would prevail. Praying that they would respect one another and grow in friendship. Truthfully – that particular prayer went unanswered for a really, really long time. “Why God? How long God?” were familiar refrains.

I did my best to engineer the type of relationship I thought they needed to have and probably ended up making it worse than better, learning an important lesson along the way: You cannot make the relationship between two other people better. The only people who can make a relationship better, are the ones IN that relationship and they have to WANT to make it better. The only thing I could do was encourage and pray. Encourage and Pray. Encourage and Pray. Pray for years for two incredibly stubborn people to WANT to make it better.

On that eternally good day I recognized just how active the Lord had been in answering my prayers. There had been much heartache and work that had to be done on every person’s part. During all of those years of praying for that one relationship, the Lord accomplished a beautiful work in our marriage relationship establishing a firm foundation from which we could be the parents He needed us to be for our son in that moment. No condemnation, no accusation, no anger, no guilt – just love and support – tipping those scales ever so slightly in favor of relationship.

Why do I call that day an eternally good day? Because it was a day I know made a difference in eternity – for us all. Because it was a day upon which many other eternally good days were built and are being built.

Just last week my heart did the happy dance as father and son spent the day together shopping for that symbol of love he will give his girl friend when the time is right. Another eternally good day.

Indeed, more often than not my heart joins in the hymn of praise “I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.” (Psalm 40:1-3)

Are you wondering – when God? Why God? Let me encourage you to keep seeking Jesus. Keep praying for Him to hear your cry. Sweet Sister, He does. He loves you so much. It might seem like He’s silent, but He may actually be busy changing lives in order to love you through answered prayer.

Thank you Lord, for eternally good days.

Love and Blessings,

Denise

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