Isn't He good?

This past weekend I took my long-awaited trip to Houston for my dear friend Michelle's wedding. As usual, God's timing proved impeccable. The tickets had been bought months earlier, but it was such a relief to be able to go with the job situation temporarily under control back at home. 3 days away from Arizona and from music therapy and from daily life were a welcome respite.

I want to describe every detail of the trip (don't worry, I won't!) but I'll start with 1 thing that was said at the rehearsal dinner on Friday, because it sort of set the theme for the whole weekend. One man (Rob's uncle?), after reflecting on God's sovereign hand in bringing Michelle and Rob together, simply said, "Isn't He good?" And for the rest of the weekend, I had that phrase, complete with the southern accent in which it was said, echoing in my mind. God is indeed good in the way he brought Michelle and Rob together. He is good in having redeemed each of them from their sins and freeing them to love Him first and most. He is good in demonstrating through Christ what it means to sacrifice, to become a servant, and so enabling them to better do that in their shared life together. He is good in having given them so many believing family members, a whole built-in community of lovers-of-God in which they can grow and thrive.

And He is good in having let Katie and me be a part of the weekend. I felt so spoiled the whole time. Michelle had graciously taken care of our lodging - a nice hotel near all of our destinations. We were invited to the rehearsal dinner, despite not being relatives and never having even met the groom or his family. On top of it all, Michelle gave us sweet and encouraging notes complete with Starbucks gift cards, as if she hadn't given us enough already! Her selfless love toward us over the weekend was a sweet reflection of Christ's selfless love toward her, her family, and ourselves.

And everything went incredibly smoothly. On-time flights, our first successful renting of a car, only minimal occurences of getting lost... We enjoyed all 3 of Michelle's favorite coffee shops, 1 each day, as well as some little low-key explorations of parks, monuments, neighborhoods, and the downtown area. We had an amazing time and hardly spent any money at all. I even got a free glass of wine just because the bartender was also from AZ and not-so-subtly covered our drinks. The weather was beyond belief, and Houston was I think at its very best. Everything was green and beautiful. Even the radio was on our side. Actually, the radio was overall pretty ridiculously awful, but there were 3 perfect moments that made it evident the trip was created with me in mind. When we first turned on our rental car, thrilled to be finally in Texas, the song on the radio was "God Bless Texas." We randomly heard John MacArthur preaching on limited atonement after dinner on Friday. And Saturday morning, there was a talk show on the radio about the importance of music in neurological disorders. Unreal.

I want to include pictures but will have to upload those later on so as not to be late to work. So in closing, God is good! He graciously chooses to give good gifts to his children, after already having given them the greatest gift imaginable - a relationship with Him! He is indeed worthy to be praised!