God's Definition of "Good"

This post is #55 in a year-long series ... Through this series of posts I plan to share our family's experiences during our 17-year-old daughter's year-long battle with brain cancer, which began in February of 2008. My desire is to process through the events of that year from the perspective that a decade of time has brought ... for myself, really. But if you'd like to follow along, you're welcome to join me.

Have you ever wondered if God has different definitions for words than we do? I've come to believe that maybe His definition of "good" is different from mine. For example, my "good" would never include cancer, car accidents, war, or natural disasters. My "good" would consist of healing of all diseases, protection from all accidents and evil, seeing both my children live long and healthy lives, and dying peacefully in my sleep at a ripe old age.

But in God's dictionary, could it be that "good" means anything that brings us closer to Him ... whatever that may be?

As we closed every one of our emails ten years ago with the words, "God is good all the time", this was a concept with which we were just beginning to grapple.  What was His "good" in our family's situation going to be?

"...Yet in the maddening maze of things,

And tossed by storm and flood,

To one fixed trust my spirit clings;

I know that God is good!"

~John Greeleaf Whittier