God is Good (Jeremiah 32:33)

     Thirty-four years ago, when my husband and I married, we were unaware he had bipolar disorder. In fact, he said he didn't get depressed. He did cite one time of mental confusion years earlier, but blamed it on coming off meth, the turning point when he followed the Lord wholeheartedly. His dedication to the Lord and his emotional stability attracted me to him. On the other hand, I struggled with depression.

     About nine years into our marriage, when our two children were little, job instability, financial pressures and budding marital problems woke up the sleeping monster of bipolar disorder. Once so stable, my husband became a roller coaster of emotions, with breaks from reality. Once sensitive to God’s wisdom and insight, he became confused and lost confidence in his relationship with the Lord.

     He and I always had been opposites, but over the next fifteen years or so we struggled to keep body, mind and marriage together. We often gave up trying to see eye to eye and simply said, “The Lord is good!”  We could always agree on that, even though times were tough.

     In Jeremiah 32, King Zedekiah couldn't understand why Jeremiah would prophecy destruction. He even locked the prophet up in prison. But the king only understood part of the message. When God called Jeremiah, He told him to buy land from his cousin and seal it up in a clay pot so it would keep for a long time. Because of the Israelites’ evil ways, God would destroy the city, but He promised they would live and thrive there again. Jeremiah’s deed was a sign of hope.

     God’s intentions were, are and always will be to love and care for His people. The Lord said in Jeremiah 32:41, “I will rejoice in doing them good.” In Jeremiah 33:15, He went on to say that He would send “a righteous Branch to spring up for David” who would carry out justice and righteousness.

     That branch is Jesus, in whom we find grace, love, forgiveness, and the good God has always wanted for His people. Most importantly, we have a loving relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit within us.

God is good and desires good for His people. He will take us through bad times to get to the good times. Many marriages would stay intact, if they’d grasp the vision of what God intended to do for them through trials.

     My husband is back to being emotionally stable (for the most part) and the spiritual man I fell in love with. And I’m seldom depressed. We’re still opposites. If there are two way to do things, he’ll do it one way and I’ll do it the other. But we always agree that God is good.  

Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. (Jeremiah 33:3)             

                                                                                                                                

Connie L. Peters has thirty years of experience in writing poetry, adult and children’s fiction and inspirational non-fiction. Currently she writes devotions for The Presidential Prayer Team and The Pagosa Sun. She also writes a poem a day on enthusiaticsoul.blogspot.com. Connie’s work has appeared in numerous publications including Focus on the Family, Bible Advocate and The Quiet Hour. She has served on the board of Southwest Christian Writers Association for the past twenty years. Connie lives in Cortez, CO where she and her husband host two adults with developmental disabilities. The Peters’ two grown children live in Arizona.