God loves optimistic people.  He wants us to have a positive outlook & bring good news & peace, rather than strife & contentions.  (Proverbs 15:18, Galatians 5:20).  When my oldest son & his girlfriend had been in a terrible car wreck, my heart was blessed to have met his girlfriend’s stepmom.  Although his girlfriend’s prognosis was very touch & go, each time I had a conversation with her stepmom, she was always very positive about her stepdaughter’s condition.  We were both doing a lot of the same things, camping out in the ICU waiting room, hearing good & bad news from the doctors, sleep deprived & hearts hurting.  However, my new friend always spoke of what good was happening, not the grim side of it.  It seemed she just refused to take something detrimental as the outcome.  She always lifted my spirits.  Her attitude was wonderful, at a time that did not appear, much hope was left.

It makes me think of Paul & Silas’s attitude when they were imprisoned.  Beginning in Acts 16:20 Paul & Silas were going through a terrible ordeal.  Not only did a crowd of people come at them for healing a demon possessed girl, their clothes were torn off of them.  They were beaten with rods.  After that, they were thrown in jail.  However, instead of looking at how bad their situation was, they looked up to God.  They were determined to not let their situation get the best of them.  They were not telling God how big their problems were.  They were telling their problems how big their God was.   When they they considered God, they were found praying & singing hymns to glorify Him in their trials. (Acts 16:25)

What an inspiring attitude!  Even when things were the worst, they still were optimistic & praised God.  The encounter I had with my new-found friend had an everlasting effect on me.  It taught me that no matter how grim reality may seem, there’s good in everything.  May we always see God’s goodness in every situation.

Isaiah 52:7  How beautiful upon the mountains

are the feet of him who brings good news,

who practices peace,

who brings glad tidings of good things,

who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion,

your God reigns.