Who are we to question our God about his intentions toward us when we know that all things conspire for our good and His glory? Our best and worst days both serve God, and we cannot see the tapestry of His creation or his grand plan. We cannot fathom the thoughts He has toward us, but we know that He loves us. That He is doing a good work in us that is ongoing. That we are not yet who we are meant to be, but if we allow it, we will be all that we were created to be.

God assures us of his mercy that saved us from what we deserved by the blood of Jesus on the cross. God assures us of His goodness that gives us what we do not deserve and cannot earn.

We were created out of love. We are alive because God loves us enough to look past the things he already knew we would do before we ever did them.

God knew how we would fail and fall and fight against Him, that we would lean on our own understanding and rage against him in our dark days. . . and yet He made us. Even more wonderfully, he sacrificed his son to save us from our sins and make us perfect in Him.

Jesus cleansed us of our sins, made us new, and set us on a new path out of love. We are the prodigal son kneeling before our Father and crying out for mercy, and he allows us to stand, cleans and clothes us, and gives us the best of all he has. His love, mercy, grace, kindness, hope, a future, and the greatest gift of all: life eternal in His presence.

We do not have to go it alone. He gave us the sage advice of the Holy Ghost and Jesus to intercede on our behalf. God did it all for us, and all we need to do is choose Him. Trust Him.

This life is a battle for our eternal souls, and it can only be won in one way: in everything, always, choose God, and He will fight for you. And even if you don't, He will still fight for you until your last breath to win you for His kingdom. All you have to do is surrender to Him, who made you in His image, and allow His plans for you to unfold. On the top of the hills and in the valleys, Your God is working on your behalf to save your soul. We don't know the battle being fought, but we know the God who stands on our behalf. We only have to choose Him as our champion and keep choosing Him, for we cannot fight on our behalf.

God is the key to everything, He is the path that leads to salvation, He is the road that leads to heaven, He is the answer to every question. In the end, He is all that we take with us from this life into the next. Everything else stays behind. In this world, we will have tribulations, but if we find our joy in Him instead of worldly things, we will always have joy, for he is where the joy is.

His mercy is new every day, and we live in that mercy. Should that not lift our hearts and have us sing His praises? We are saved by the grace of God. We are made new by the mercy of God. We are new creatures through the love of God. None of that is our doing. We only have the power to surrender to Him and stand back so God can do what we cannot.

Surrender to Him today and allow him to fight for you. For if He is for us, who can stand against us? The battle is for eternity, not for this world. Trust not in the things of this creation, only in the One who is greater than it all.

Bless you and those with whom God has chosen to surround you, and remember He had sown seeds into your life when you were young that will only spring up and grow when needed. Even if you feel you are alone at this time, God sometimes needs to isolate us so we can hear his voice; if we surrender fully to him, there will come a day when He surrounds us with those he chose for us.

And pray. Always pray and seek the counsel of God through the Holy Spirit rather than the council of people. Even good-intentioned friends or family can lead you astray. And God does answer our questions if we focus on Him and allow ourselves to hear His voice. It's subtle, so we must be vigilant and even when we discern His voice, pray to God for understanding so we do not misinterpret what we hear.