This Testimony; His Just Due

"He has done all things well." Mark 7:37

Yes, from first to last, from our cradle to our grave, from the earliest pang of sin's conviction to the last thrill of sin's forgiveness, from earth to heaven; this will be our testimony in all the way the Lord our God has led us in the wilderness: "He has done all things well.
In providence and in grace,
in every truth of His Word,
in every lesson of His love,
in every stroke of His rod,
in every sunbeam that has shone,
in every cloud that has shaded,
in every element that has sweetened,
in every ingredient that has embittered,
in all that has been mysterious, inscrutable, painful, and humiliating;
in all that He gave,
in all that He took away, this testimony is His just due, and this our grateful acknowledgment through time and through eternity:
'He has done all things well.'"  (adapted from Octavius Winslow's, The Sigh of Christ)  

Truly He has. Let me say it from here, while I feel the "taking away" far more deeply than the giving: His way is perfect. He is Good. He does all things well. I will let my hurting heart thank God, who always hurts in order to heal. I believe it. Let everything that belongs to Him praise Him for His goodness.

...we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12)