I’ve been sitting with a question lately.
What if this is what good looks like right now?
Not the kind of good that ties everything up neatly. Not the kind of good that feels like momentum or clarity. I mean the kind of good that doesn’t work out the way you wanted it to.
In Romans it says that all things work together for good. We love that verse when things resolve. When the door opens. When the answer comes through. But what if good doesn’t mean it worked out in your favor? What if good looks like something falling through? A disagreement that lingers. A title you have to surrender. A plan that shifts.
Can you still say it’s good in the middle of what feels bad?
I found myself praying something new recently. Not “Fix this.” Not “Change this.” Just, “God, if this is what good looks like right now, help me stay.” That prayer didn’t magically change the situation. But it changed me. I felt the tightness in my chest soften. I stopped trying to wrestle control back. I stopped assuming disruption meant I was behind.
What if good isn’t about preference? What if it’s about formation?
And here’s something else I’m learning. Sometimes good isn’t that you get the win. Sometimes good is that your ego takes the hit — and you don’t harden.
Not when you land the argument.
Not when it works out the way you planned.
Not when people finally see it your way.
Sometimes the good is who you’re becoming inside it. More patient. More grounded. Less reactive. More trusting.
That’s where gratitude becomes an act of leadership.
Gratitude isn’t pretending it feels good. It’s choosing to see beyond what you see. Choosing to give thanks beyond what you feel. When you call yourself into gratitude, your posture shifts. Your nervous system shifts. Your mindset shifts. You move from “this shouldn’t be happening” to “God is shaping something in me here.”
And sometimes, if you’re brave enough, you dance.
Not because it worked out.
But because you trust that it’s working in you.
Here’s the One Step for this week:
When something doesn’t go your way —
Pause before reacting.
Ask yourself, “What if this is what good looks like right now?”
Take one slow breath, longer on the exhale.
Name one thing you can be grateful for in the middle of it.
Say quietly, “God, help me stay and trust You here.”
Not to deny reality. Not to spiritualize pain. Just to stay grounded enough to respond instead of react.
You don’t have to understand it yet.
You just have to stay in it.
And maybe — just maybe — good isn’t always the outcome.
Maybe sometimes good is who you’re becoming.
So breathe. And if you can…
Dance.
