GREAT is His faithfulness!

"Surely my soul remembers and is bowed down within me. This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The Lord's lovingkindnesses never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. "The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I have hope in Him." The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him.
~Lamentations 3:20-25

At our wedding, Chris and I declared the Lord's faithfulness to be our anthem. We spoke and sang of God's past faithfulness to us both as we waited on His perfect timing to bring us each a godly mate. We sang with enthusiasm and hope, knowing it was only the Lord's lovingkindness that brought us together and that the catalyst for moving forward in our new life together would have to be His mercy and faithfulness.

On that glorious summer day, we had no idea of the dark days that loomed ahead. Days in which we would have to cling to the memories of God's past faithfulness because they were the only shreds of evidence that God is who He says He is and our faith in Him is real. We could not have fathomed in those first few moments of marriage how important it would become to mark every glimmer of hope or glimpse of God's hand as "encouragement for today" while we strained to keep our eyes fixed on the Faithful One.

To some it might seem overdramatic to term these trying times as "dark days" because we have been blessed with a marriage that is rock solid, continued health, and we have not lost any loved ones during this time. But, these have been days of great financial difficulty and of feeling a bit battered and bruised by a lack of clear direction and purpose. These days have been spent trying to make out the shadow of God's face in the midst of the daily challenges He has allowed us to encounter. We have been learning to trust the Lord in new ways, and like any sort of suffering, there are moments of soul-wrenching darkness, when it is at best difficult to understand what the Lord is doing and at worst challenging to know He is there at all.

In the midst of a particularly gloomy day, Chris and I realized we were both falling into the pit of spiritual despair. To combat that temptation, we began talking about our "encouragement for today". Really, we just started making a point to recall God's past faithfulness and present glimpses of His work in our lives and in the lives of those around us. Here is the list, in brief, of how God has been faithful to us so far:

• Salvation--He gave us Himself. We've come to realize anything above and beyond that is just over and above what we could ask or imagine and out of the lavish love of the Father for us.
• Each other--we could not imagine walking through this without the blessing of each other, but we know that God's faithfulness would still be the same if we were still single...again, His lavish love at work.
• Our precious son, Zachary--his name says it all...the Lord remembers. He is our daily reminder that the Lord has not forgotten us!
• Daily bread--throughout this very lean time of financial struggle, we have never once gone without.
• His Word--it truly has been water to our thirsty souls, especially the Psalms.
• Creative provision--while God has kept His promise to provide for our every need...it certainly hasn't looked the way we thought it would. It's come in the form of: 3 part times jobs for Chris, government agencies like WIC and Medicaid, the continued generosity of our parents, friends--old and new, unsolicited monetary gifts in the mail, from people we don't even know, and over and above what we would ever dream people would give to us.
• Answers to prayer--sometimes on the very day that we asked the Lord about something
• Our church home--The pastors and people at the Summit have loved us and prayed with us and challenged us to continue walking with the Lord and trusting in Him. We could not have made it through this time without their faithful support.
• Opportunities for leadership and service--Since Chris is so busy working and taking class and I am taking care of a new baby, it would be easy to pull in the flaps when we have down time. Instead, God has allowed us the privilege of serving our local body and a small group of believers.
• Hilarious giving--even though we have not had any true "extra" for a long time--the Lord has enabled us to continue tithing regularly and to give to missions. He has provided such generous gifts from others that have enabled us to be the kind of givers we desire to be, which has been so much FUN!

I could have written more about specific instances of God's faithfulness; this is just the tip of the iceberg. But, the main point is that God has been faithful and will continue to be. We want to boast in His great faithfulness to us and encourage others to trust in Him as well. His mercies and lovingkindnesses indeed never cease or fail. It is the Lord who is the giver of faith and the sustainer of it. And sometimes, He gives us opportunity upon opportunity to exercise that faith. Our responsibility during those times is not to grow weary in doing good and to REMEMBER His past faithfulness. It is in recalling His past provision that we find confidence in the Lord in our present circumstances and hope that He will continue to remain faithful to His Word. Faithfulness is inseparable from God because it is part of the very essence of who He is. He will continue to demonstrate His faithfulness to His children...it just might not look the way we think it should. Nevertheless, our boast and our hope is in the Lord for great is HIS faithfulness!