We have not been promised a mediocre life

A lettered quote from DaySpring contributing writer Tyra Rains that reads,

The Lord is such a good Father, and He will satisfy you with good things and an abundant life.

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This morning, I woke up with sore legs. This is what happens when you haven’t run in months, but your grandkids love to race.

Every Monday evening, we have family dinner at our house. Our three grown kids, their spouses and their children all come out. My husband is the chef of the house, so he typically cooks us all a delicious meal. When the days are longer, after we eat, we usually head outside for a family walk. Not this week. We somehow all ended up in our long, rocky driveway.

I don’t know how it happened, but before I knew it, I was racing the grandkids to a tree and back. That wasn’t so bad, as our oldest grand is only seven and I didn’t have to exert much. However, soon the kids started pairing up the adults to race each other, and I found myself on the line with my 25‑year‑old son. This hardly seemed fair. If I was going to race him, then there needed to be some new rules. He would run to the tree and back, and I would run half that distance and back. It wasn’t ideal, because I still had to run, but when the grandkids ask, you do what you need to do.

“Ready, set, go!” I took off like a toddler throwing a ball. I made it to my halfway point, turned around, and started running back. I could sense my son gaining on me, so I threw on the afterburners. I still lost.

It didn’t really matter that I lost. I was happy. When King David said, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread” (Psalm 37:25), I understand what he meant. The Lord had been good to him all the days of his life. It’s not that hard times never came his way—they did. David had people betray him, he experienced loss, he was overlooked, and he literally ran for his life. Yet he never cursed God. He knew the Lord was not to blame. People often blame God for hard things that happens in their life, but it’s not God doing those things. I like to say it this way: “I’ve never seen the righteous forsaken, but I have seen the righteous make terrible decisions.” Even David made a lot of mistakes, yet because of his heart for the Lord, he never felt forsaken.

At the end of his life, when he looked back, David saw the Lord right there with him the entire time. In every good, bad and ugly moment the Lord was there. I know I’m not at the end of my life, but I can still see the hand of God in every step I’ve taken. I can see the times I listened to and was led by Him, and I can see the times I stepped wherever I wanted and took matters into my own hands. Those times never went as planned. I would be quick to repent and get right back on track, and the Lord would always turn things around for me.

I think this is what everyone really wants. We want to look at our lives and say, “Wow, look what the Lord has done for me”. He has satisfied my mouth with good things (Psalm 103:5), my cup runs over (Psalm 23:5), and everything I’ve done has turned out well (Psalm 1:3). People want a good life.

Years ago, I was surrounded by a group of high school girls. We were talking about life, friends, school and obviously boys. One of the girls mentioned the phrase “happily ever after.” One by one, each girl agreed that happily ever after doesn’t exist. I said, “What do you mean it doesn’t exist? I’m living it right now.” They then declared that happily ever after just wouldn’t happen for them. My heart broke for an entire generation of girls who thought their lives would be mediocre at best. This is not the heart of God. He told us in John 10:10 NIV that Jesus came to earth to give us life to the full. The CEB translation says, “the fullest,” and the RSV says, “life abundantly.” Those are good words describing a good life.

The phrase “happily ever after” has been assigned to fairy tales. People think it’s not real life. And maybe it doesn’t look like the prince and princess riding off into the sunset, but it does look like a life full of satisfaction. The last verse in Psalm 91 describes the life of the person who lives in the shadow of the Most High. It says, “With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation” (Psalm 91:16 NKJV).

So today, even with sore legs, I am satisfied. I am living my life to the fullest. This is not to say that I’ve never gone through hard times. I have. We all have. Yet, amid them there is a strength, hope, peace and joy that doesn’t make sense. There’s an ability to trust that everything is going to turn out well. That is a life of faith.

The Lord is such a good Father, and He will satisfy you with good things and an abundant life. It’s all right there in His Word, declared as promises that He keeps. I will never forget something I heard as a teenager that changed my life: If God said it, I believe it, that settles it.

A mediocre life was never the life described in the Bible. Mediocre just isn’t good enough for God’s kids. He never said He came to give us a mediocre life. He came to give us a life that tastes like His goodness, looks like His faithfulness, to fill our cup until it overflows, to satisfy us with good things, and to prove every single day that the righteous are never forsaken.

A black and white portrait of DaySpring contributing author Tyra Rains.

Tyra Rains is a wife, mom, coco, friend and author of "Virtue: Living Uncommon in a Common World." Her passion is pastoring alongside her husband and making sure everyone she meets encounters the goodness of God. Tyra loves time with her crew, laughing, sunshine and jeepin’. Learn more about her at http://wearevirtue.org/.