I am a recovering Army brat who loves to travel and start new adventures. My handsome husband and I met at Oklahoma Christian University and he whisked me away to Kansas. So, I bought some ruby red high heels and made Topeka my home. I have a rough and rowdy Princess 4-year-old girl, amazing twin boys (almost 3) and a newborn baby girl who all make every day an adventure. We are grateful to be part of an amazing church in Topeka who regularly challenges and encourages our whole family. I have been both a full-time working mom and a stay-at-home-mom and/or both at the same time at one point or another. I am constantly seeking God’s wisdom on “balancing it all” and following His plan for my life, not mine.
It’s one of those things we cherish in others, perhaps even require in our most meaningful earthly relationships. The definitions of “faithful” according to Dictionary.com are as follows:
1. strict or thorough in the performance of duty:
a faithful worker.
2.true to one’s word, promises, vows, etc.
3.steady in allegiance or affection; loyal; constant:
faithful friends.
4.reliable, trusted, or believed.
5.adhering or true to fact, a standard, or an original; accurate:
a faithful account; a faithful copy.
6.full of faith; believing.
Faithfulness is a foundational component of love, commitment, and trust. That is probably the reason we crave it from our friends, family, and loved ones. I believe we also need it because faithfulness is a key attribute of God and how He relates to us. God is love. God is faithful, and he keeps His promises. He is constant, He is to be trusted, He is thorough, and His word is true.
New Perspective on God’s Faithfulness
As an adult, I have reread the Old Testament with new perspective about how it is really telling us the story of Jesus and God’s plan to save a troubled and corrupted world. When I was young, I always got “trust and obey” out of Old Testament stories. But as I grew up, the Lord showed me that His perfect faithfulness was demonstrated time and again. Layers and layers of faithfulness. (Thanks to the Jesus Storybook Bible, I find it much easier to communicate some of this to my kiddos.)
What is a greater story of faithfulness than God’s commitment to all his promises to the Israelites? The first chapter of Joshua comes to mind. After God told them to finally enter the Promised Land under Joshua’s leadership, he tells them this:
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you?Be strong and courageous.Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for theLordyour God is with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:8-9 ESV)
Not Always Obvious
I could go on and talk about all the proof in the New and Old Testaments of God’s unending faithfulness, including the death and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ, but it is more difficult to understand faithfulness in your own day-to-day life. God’s faithfulness is sometimes easiest seen in hindsight. It’s not something that always seems obvious when we are in the midst of something hard or terrible, or even joyous. But I assure you, He is Faithful. All. The. Time. If we know Him, and we know His Word, we know He is with us wherever we go.
Faithfulness in Big and Small Ways
In my own life, this is sometimes how the Lord urges me to trust and obey in the hard things. He reminds me how He has been faithful in so many “small” and “big” ways. One “small” way in which God has been faithful in my life is that He consistently provides someone to meet my needs on days I just feel weary. Whether it be a friend in a lonely place, ladies from church to help bring meals or offer extra helping hands when you have a newborn (or two), or the person at the grocery store who lets you go ahead of them because your kids are losing their minds, and even a husband who brings dinner home after a long day.
These are “small” examples, but nonetheless, it is powerful to know that He cares about the small things in my life as much as the big things. It helps me change my perspective. When I look back on the Lord’s faithfulness in my life, especially in tragedy or heartache, it overwhelms me. But his faithfulness exists even in times of joy. I can do nothing else but know the same will be true in the future.
God is Faithful because He Loves You
Finding His faithfulness in the “small” things each day makes it so much easier to find comfort when everything, or even just one thing, seems to be falling apart. God is Faithful, All the Time. He is faithful because He loves us; He loves us more than anyone in this world is capable of loving us. Meditate on that for a while. God loves you. He has a plan for our lives and He is faithful through it all. It may not always look the way we expect. It may take time and reflection, perhaps even years down the road, or perhaps we will never know the full extent of His faithfulness in our lives.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, whohave been called according to his purpose.”
Please note that this verse doesn’t say all things are good in this life, but says that HE works things together for THE good OF those called according to HIS purpose.
He is sovereign; He is great. But He is love, and He is faithful to those who serve Him. Do you know what is even better? He is faithful even when we fail.
I implore you to seek God in all things, but especially during times of trial. Trust in Him who is faithful. Even if we don’t understand His ways in the present, we can be assured that He loves us more than we can imagine.
Wife, mom, daughter, teacher, blogger, crafter, organizer - but most and best of all, I am a Christian. I am passionate about my family and my God. I am married to my best friend and am blessed with a one year old son who keeps me busy all the time staying at home with him. And I am glad to be in the service of our incredible and awesome God.
But slowly, it creeps in and begins to wrap its tentacles. You begin to feel a hard knot in your stomach. The anxious tension in your shoulders. The nausea and restlessness. You toss and turn at night. You can’t seem to find the rest and refreshment that comes from sleep because sleep is nowhere to be found.
Worry isn’t peaceful. Worry breeds discontentment, doubt, and disorder.
I look at Peter in Acts 12 and marvel at his apparent peace. There he is, imprisoned between two hardened Roman soldiers. He is bound with chains, with more sentries guarding his door, and yet, he falls asleep!
Instead of sleeping in peace, he could have stayed awake and worried, or do the things I might do when I worry. Peter doesn’t argue with God. He doesn’t ask God to rescue him or to ease his trials. Nor does he lose faith or lash out in anger or irritation. And he certainly doesn’t start cleaning things that didn’t need cleaning!
In fact, Peter seems so at peace that he is able to fall deeply asleep. He is so deeply asleep that an angel with heavenly light coming to his cell doesn’t awaken him! In fact, the angel has to both call him and basically whack him in order to wake him up!
Now that’s assurance. That’s real trust.
And Peter’s immediate reaction afterward helps teach me about how he got that peace in the first place. He obeyed God’s messenger immediately, he gathered with God’s people to share the things God had worked in his life, and he went to the work God had called him to do.
Peter had no illusions about what might happen. Death, torture, and imprisonment were much more an understood probability in the life of the Christian then. And he had the humility to think at first that what he saw that night was only a vision from God.
After all, why would God rescue Peter?
Why would he rescue any of us, for that matter? And yet he does!
That victory, that peace is only found in Christ. No, we don’t deserve or even sometimes expect it. And yet, it is there for the taking, if only we follow Him.
May you step out in faith and trust to experience that peace today too.
Wife, mom, daughter, teacher, blogger, crafter, organizer - but most and best of all, I am a Christian. I am passionate about my family and my God. I am married to my best friend and am blessed with a one year old son who keeps me busy all the time staying at home with him. And I am glad to be in the service of our incredible and awesome God.
The other day, my son and I got to play outside–really play. Not just kicking through a leaf pile on our way to the car. Not just taking the meandering route into the grocery store–but actual time spent outside, soaking up the sun.
I got some strange looks when I shared that at church.
Because, you see, it’s been raining, icing, sleeting, etc. out here. Which means that our park, while sunny the other day and actually a very pleasant temperature, was ridiculously muddy.
But, you see, little boys (and their mothers) can be washed.
And the benefits of going outside far outweighed the downfalls of it.
You see, I knew that Gideon would want to roll, squeeze, rub, and possibly even taste-test the mud. I knew that he would get grimy and slimy, and that I would too. I knew that this would probably mean another load of laundry and definitely a bath.
But he was so inordinately happy. He ran around from one side of the playground to the other, leaping with abandon into leaf piles, mud puddles, and dead winter grass. He rolled from side to side, reveling in the sheer glory of being in God’s sunshine.
I chased him. Then, I sat and watched him.
And it was a beautiful day. I felt happier, more energized, more, well, human.
I think that there is a correlation to our own Christian service. You know what I mean.
There are those tasks–those services to others that we know we could do, that we even know we should do. But in the doing of it, we might get messy. Sometimes literally (somehow, service often involves cleaning). Other times, emotionally (which means tears and heartaches). Sometimes we might get messy in other ways.
But in the end, on the other side, even if things did not turn out how you envisioned or intended, God grants a feeling of purpose for Him and a feeling of peace. We always feel better after doing God’s work.
So, today, I encourage you to get out there. Maybe your work is playing with a child in the sunshine and mud. Maybe it’s inviting another lonely mom and kid(s) to come with you. Or maybe it’s something else. But today, be brave, grab hold of some sunshine and go out and do it.
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. ~ 1 Peter 4:10
The waters, they rise and they fall, their rhythm is melodic. I am at peace. I can see goodness in the sparkle of sun which glints across waters pristine. I feel comfort in its steady and predictable movement. Hope arises in these moments. I float in the security of carefree waters.
But what then, when the waters began to abandon their state of rhythm? The peace, is it there when the cacophonous overtakes the harmoniousness of the waters? When waters are dark and grey, do I still know that which is good? When my boat is rocked dangerously by waters rough and sudden, do I feel the same warm feeling of assurance? Can hope be sustained in the tumultuous moments? When my boat is tossed by waves dangerous and violent, will my world and all that I know be overcome and sink into waters deep?
You rule the raging sea; when its waves surge, You still them. Psalm 89:9 (HCSB)
The Ruler of All. He is the One who can silence the waters. He is the One who remains sovereign through all moments of life. He is the One in whom I trust; He is the One in whom my soul is anchored.
I can rest in His sovereignty. When I am floating on waters safe and sure, I can bask in His goodness. When I am tossed about by the roaring waves, I can cling to His authority. Trust, it is there in the stillness and it is there in the storm. To know His sovereignty in all situations is to be filled with peace that is of perfection. It moves beyond understanding–it is not fear, but comfort. It is not worry, but confidence. It is not doubt, but certainty.
The seas of your life will rage. When they do, is your hope anchored to the One who can still them? Are you being held by steadfast arms through the waters which mean to drown and destroy? Can you find comfort in knowing that whatever the circumstance, you are His and He is yours?
“So I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine.” – Oceans (Hillsong United)
He is there and He is waiting. There is no storm too big, there is no wave too high, and no waters too deep. His rescue knows no boundaries and His healing knows no limits. The grace and comfort He holds out to give you is everlasting; it is waiting for you to accept.
What storms of life are you going through right now? How have you found comfort by resting in His sovereignty? How has He carried you through the storm?
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purpose.”
