WHEN WE WERE CHILDREN, WE ALWAYS HAD dinner together around the family table. Dad would conclude the dinner with a short devotional and then we were encouraged to sing a song as a family, and Dad always encouraged us to sing it with gusto! So we sang, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever, and I shall feast at the table spread for me...surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days, all the days of my life!"
It was many years later that it dawned on me that these were the words of Psalm 23. And what a promise was burned into my memory from a young age-that goodness and mercy would follow me-all the days of my life.
I have seen that goodness exists hand in hand with mercy. God's mercy, God's forgiveness, God's unconditional love-IS goodness. Too often, we become disenchanted with God and think He has not heard our prayers, or hasn't been paying attention because nothing is going right. In other words, nothing is going according to our plans. And so we are discouraged, floundering, even facing a faith crisis. Where is God when we need Him?
Goodness is not what happens to us. Goodness is responding positively to whatever happens to us-no matter how difficult it may be. Goodness is viewing every problem as an opportunity to see God's mercy at work.
Would you like to be able to say that goodness and mercy have followed you every day of your life? The Lord is your Shepherd and, as you follow Him, goodness and mercy will follow you. If you stumble and fall, He will pick you up and you will experience goodness and mercy. If you take your eyes off Him and stray from His path, He will search for you and find you and you will see goodness and mercy displayed. 
If you are attacked and hurt, He will rescue you, deliver you, and heal your wounds. May goodness and mercy follow you-every day of your life-until you dwell in the house of the Lord forever! What a promise!
Claim it!
