Mom’s Ways

Years ago, when we had a big family gathering in our West Virginia hometown, Mom had prepared a meal for us.  She decided to serve it buffet style.  The first person to go through the line was one of my nieces.  She scooped some rice onto her plate and then beside the rice she put the stew meat and gravy.  Back in the line, craning her neck to see, was our short little mother.  She saw my niece’s plate with the meat beside the rice.  Mom could not restrain herself.

“The meat goes ON the rice!” she exclaimed.

There was the typical eye rolling and many knowing smiles between us as Mom still felt that need to supervise this detail…a very important detail to her.  In my family, this comment and story has become one of our favorite sayings when we want something to be done a certain way.

The meat goes ON the rice!

Mom’s particular ways permeated our lives.  She was and still is the most energetic and organized woman I have ever known.  It wasn’t easy back in the 50’s to have four children in five years.  Then came Kathryn, our caboose, three years later.

Her ways of managing our home were as precise as she could make them during those very hectic years.  She had baskets of ironing for us to do with a piece of paper in each basket that held a name of one of us girls.  We had our chores to do and the day on which to do them.  She even taught us the best way to load dishes into the kitchen sink after dinner.  Wash the glasses first, then the silverware put just so along with the plates, and so forth.

She taught us how to fold laundry, including those dreaded fitted sheets.  Sorry, Mom, for the mess I still make with those sheets today.  Sometimes I feel like she’s craning her little neck from heaven, watching me struggle with that sheet and just shaking her head.

But over the years, with a family of my own, I do wonder how Mom did it all.  She made all our clothes, often late at night after we had gone to bed.  I still remember our kitchen table full of homemade rolls, cookies, pizza crusts, and so much more.  Our freezers were full of those goodies, ready to be used at a moment’s notice.  She canned and froze fruits and veggies from their garden.  All of this while working full time after we were all in school, eventually supervising the school lunch programs in thirteen West Virginia counties.

Mom’s ways of reaching beyond our home into the lives of others was amazing.  Our home was always open to our friends, to groups, and to pastors and missionaries.  In later years, she knit hundreds of Christmas stockings for so many people as well as her beautiful quilts.  She visited the sick, usually with flowers she had grown or food she had made.  

Mom’s ways of offering help to the struggling really spoke to me.  She didn’t judge those who had made mistakes in life but instead looked for ways she could help them and love them through their hard times.

But the most impacting of Mom’s ways, the one for which I am most thankful, is that every morning she made sure that we began the day in God’s word together as a family around our breakfast table.  Dad was already at work on those early mornings so she would lead us in reading Our Daily Bread and praying together.  

Throughout her life she consistently exhibited that the number one value in our lives was to live our lives for Christ and to trust Him in every situation.  We saw her follow her own advice without wavering as she cared for Dad until cancer took his life.  She continued her faithfulness even as Alzheimer’s took away her memory, her spunk, her humor and wit.  

Some of the last words she ever spoke was to softly sing:  

“Jesus, Jesus, Jesus;

Sweetest name I know.

Fills my every longing,

Keeps me singing as I go.”

So Mom, I not only honor you on this Mother’s Day but on every day as your ways continue to influence my own life…and hopefully the lives of our children. 

And for you, I will make sure that the meat goes ON the rice!

The Fringes

We have been in a period of stormy weather here in the central Plains.  Many of you know that I love taking sky pictures.  There is hardly any better time to take some amazing shots of God’s work in the skies than during the build-up or the after-effects of a good old Kansas storm.

The clouds build:

Then darken:

And after the drama of the storm, there were these stunning clouds.

As I looked at these skies recently, I was reminded of the undeniable power of God in the creation of such beauty.

 I remembered reading Job 26, how Job talked about God’s unmatchable power that we see, or sometimes can’t see, in our world around us.  

Read some of Job’s description:

“He stretches out the north over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing.  He wraps up the waters in His clouds, and the cloud does not burst under them.  He obscures the face of the full moon and spreads His cloud over it.  He has inscribed a circle on the surface of the waters at the boundary of light and darkness.  The pillars of heaven tremble and are amazed at His rebuke.  He quieted the sea with His power…by His breath the heavens are cleared…”    (Job 26:7-13)

Just stop and think of the astounding power of God that we see in the heavens and on this earth.  His design in creation and His ability to hold everything together, causing the world to operate as it should, is beyond comprehension.  

Listening to the deep thunder this past weekend during our storms made me feel very small.  Our windows even seemed to shake at the power of that rumble.  It reminded me of God’s strength.  So did our gorgeous clouds, so beautifully designed by God.

But listen to what else Job said in the last verse of that chapter.

            “Behold, these are the fringes of His ways…”

All these mighty acts of God that Job describes are then said to be the fringes of His ways.

Fringes…the outer edges, the outskirts.

Stop and think about that.  We see only a small part of God’s ways, of His power, and of His plan.  Yet that small part is so vast and complex!  Imagine what He is doing that we know nothing of!

Job continues:

“And how faint a word we hear of Him!  But His mighty thunder, who can understand?”

We only hear a small whisper of God’s ways in the thunder of His power!

Oh dear friend, if all that we see and hear of God are only the fringes of His ways, then imagine what He is doing in our lives that we cannot know or see.  

He is behind the scenes of those who know Him, working out His perfect will in our lives.  Sometimes we don’t feel that He is doing anything at all, or that our circumstances are too hard and so we doubt Him.  

Nothing can separate us from the love of God, and nothing can deter Him from working out His best plan for His children.  Amid our suffering…our questions…our fears…our pain…our tears – God is doing so much more than we know.  

Someday we will move from the fringes of His ways to seeing His final plan, and we will understand that all along this life, our great God was weaving a beautiful masterpiece full of His mighty grace.  

Automatic Uncle Aaron

I’m sitting here staring at this blank screen, wondering how I can convey Aaron’s adjustment or lack thereof to being Uncle Aaron.  I think the best way to do so is to share with you a statement he made not long ago.  Here is Uncle Aaron in true Aaron form, talking about his role as an uncle.

“Well, Andrea made me the uncle without asking.  Why did she automatically make me the uncle?!”

Shame on Andrea, right?  

Oh, Aaron.

I made a feeble attempt to explain this dynamic of becoming an uncle, but Uncle Aaron was already on to another topic, and I knew when it was time to just hush.

As I have said many times in the past and am sure I will continue to say many times in the future, Aaron’s main concern in life is Aaron.  His schedule, his routine, his comfort, his attention…these are a few of the things that matter most to him.  When the title “Uncle” is added to his name, that means there is another person in his world that made him an uncle…and that little person sometimes takes Aaron’s schedule, routine, comfort, and attention, and stands all of it on its head.  

Aaron’s world is jumbled during those times.  He is not the center of attention, the master of his world, the keeper of his schedule…and this disruption is HUGE to him.

You should hear him at the dinner table when Andrea, Kyle, and Ryker are at our house.  He literally will not quit talking, and when he is interrupted by us giving Ryker attention, he is perturbed.  Or when Aaron takes a bite and we can use those two seconds when he is not talking to jump in and quickly start another vein of conversation, Aaron huffs and puffs and chews extra fast so he can quickly start talking again.  

He cannot figure out why on earth we would interrupt his monologue about the core of the earth, the solar eclipse, the ancient cave bones that were unearthed, what causes earthquakes…and by the way, why didn’t the moon melt during the recent eclipse??

BUT…Aaron, despite all these interruptions into his ordered life, is surprising us with his efforts to assimilate Ryker into his life and to try to understand his new little nephew.

Ryker just stares at Aaron, waiting for eye contact and for a response.  He doesn’t get that from Aaron yet, of course.  Aaron has yet to talk to Ryker.  That concept is just too hard for Aaron.  So, Ryker observes his Uncle Aaron with great curiosity, even at only 15 months of age. 

What Aaron does love to do is to give Ryker things.  Here he is sharing his pecans with Ryker.

He was super excited for our sweet little neighbor to share her chalk with Ryker.

And for the first time in years, Aaron wanted to have an Easter basket and an egg hunt like Ryker.  A little jealousy there, I’m sure, but it was fun and had some sweet moments.

The good times and the progress we see is very encouraging to us.

They truly are more frequent than the other side that crops up when Aaron is feeling usurped and not loved as much as Ryker.

After all, Aaron may have automatically been made an uncle but knowing how to really BE an uncle is not automatic for Uncle Aaron at all!

We have certainly learned that fact over this past year.

And we have also learned to be thankful for every single bright spot that we see along this growing Uncle Aaron journey.

Waiting Slow

This past Christmas, with all the craziness going on in our family surrounding our daughter and son-in-law’s move to our town, we had to delay our family Christmas until the middle of January.  When we told Aaron that we would be having Christmas in January, he replied in his matter-of-fact way.

“But we open presents on December 25th,” he stated.

“Well, yes, we usually do but this year no one will be here on that day,” I replied.

We had this conversation several times over the next few days.  Finally, we came to a compromise.  Aaron would open two presents on Christmas day and save the rest for our family celebration in January.  

Christmas morning (the REAL Christmas morning) came.  Aaron was very excited about opening his two gifts.  Gary and I were relishing our slow, relaxed morning.  However, Aaron was not on the same page as we were.

Finally, his patience was wearing thin.  He told me to get ready so he could open his two Christmas presents.  I told him to wait and not rush me.

“Mom!!” he said, “why do you want me to wait slow?!”

I’ve thought about his description of waiting slow.  I think we all have situations in life that seem like they’re dragging on forever.  Times that we seem stuck with no answers…no way out.

We wonder why God is silent…or at least He seems to be.  

“God, I’ve prayed and prayed about this.  Why do You want me to wait slow for Your answer?”

But sometimes the waiting slow IS God’s answer.  For in the place of waiting, God has so much to teach us.

The Apostle Paul knew this truth.  In his second letter to the Corinthian church, he told the believers there that he had been so burdened and afflicted that he despaired for his life.  He was beyond any remaining strength.  He felt the sentence of death within himself.

Why?  

Why would God allow such a faithful servant of Paul to endure this prolonged suffering?  Well, Paul tells us why.

“…so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God Who raises the dead…He on Whom we have set our hope.”   (II Corinthians 1:9-10)

When God puts His children in life’s waiting rooms, He has a good purpose in mind for us.  

It is in the waiting that we see our need for God.

It is in the waiting that we learn a deeper trust.

It is in the waiting that we learn to praise God despite our suffering.

And it is in the waiting that we learn where to place our hope.

I talked not long ago to a husband who is caring for his wife with Alzheimer’s.  They are far too young to be enduring this sadness.  Yet his attitude was one of surrender to God’s plan instead of what his plan had been for their retirement years.  He sees his care for her as the ministry that God has for him at this time in his life.  He has learned where to place his hope.

There is a dear family here whose husband/dad has been on the heart transplant list but since he has had some strokes, he is no longer eligible for transplant.  It was a gut punch.  But God did open the door for him to be transferred to the #1 rehab hospital in the country.  After being rejected by so many other rehab hospitals, God opened this one at just the right time.  His wife said, “I am thankful for the prayers that God chooses to answer differently from what I expect.  It’s just learning to continue to have the faith that He knows what He is doing.”  In waiting slow, she has learned a deeper trust.

The point is, when we are waiting slow it’s so important not to place our hope in whatever answer we want from God, but instead to place our hope in God Himself.  

He will do what is best, in His time.  We can trust Him to do that!

“Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord.”  (Psalm 27:14)

Standing Firm

The other morning as I had my quiet time, I read this verse:

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This picture on which I put this verse is one of hundreds that I have taken from the window in the room where I sit at my desk on most mornings and spend time with God.  That is where I was sitting when I read those words.

The window in that room looks out on our back yard.  There, front and center, is this very large oak tree.  So many of the sky pictures or weather pictures that I have taken over the years just naturally include that big oak tree.

When we first moved here 25 years ago, that tree was small.  But now look at it!

As I read those words that Paul had written to the Corinthian believers centuries ago, and I looked out my window, I thought of how our oak tree is a beautiful example of standing firm in our faith no matter what is going on around us.  

The cold days of winter:

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The growth, but also the storms, of spring:

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The beauty of a summer sunset:

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The golden days of autumn:

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The fog that may hide our view of what’s around us:

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The scary storms that come:

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Each of us can relate to one of these scenarios.  Life is so full of beauty but also can wallop us with fear and heartache.  

My prayer is that I…that all of us who follow Christ…will stand firm in our faith even when the scenes that surround us are changing.

The only way to do that is to stay in God’s Word, ask for His wisdom and direction, and follow Him faithfully.  

Don’t let the winds that are blowing all around us, especially in these days, weaken and uproot us.  Stay rooted and grounded in God’s truth!

So may it be said of each of us who are Christ followers, “FOR IN YOUR FAITH YOU ARE STANDING FIRM!”

Uncle Aaron: Out of Order

A few weeks ago, Aaron had an incident at his day group.  He got mad at another client there, lost his temper, and ended up being pushed down.  As a result, a nose piece on his glasses got a little bent.  As soon as we could, I took Aaron to our vision center to have his glasses fixed.

Knowing that Aaron greatly enjoys telling everyone all the juicy details of these happenings, I paused to talk to him before we went inside.  I told him that no one needed to know all about how his nose piece got bent.  It’s hard to explain without making him or the other young man or his day group look bad. 

Aaron agreed.

I was not convinced.

As soon as we were seated at the table, Aaron took off his glasses for the technician.  She immediately saw the bent nose piece.  But Aaron could not stop himself from giving at least some form of explanation.

“My place in Wichita went out of order,” he flatly said.

She was confused but made no comment, only smiled.

I was holding in a belly laugh.

And Aaron strikes again with his hilarious and unique way of explaining things, I thought.

It wasn’t until sometime later that it hit me.  Aaron had made the perfect explanation of how he sees his new role as Uncle Aaron.

His place in our family went out of order.

Order is what Aaron craves in his life.  But it must be the order that Aaron mandates.  Anyone who disrupts that order is the object of Aaron’s anger.

Aaron’s nephew, Ryker, has disrupted Aaron’s ordered life.  Aaron’s normal has been upended now that Ryker and Andrea and Kyle live here.  

When the three of them are at our house, Aaron’s mood often becomes confrontational and angry.  He makes comments about how we don’t love him anymore or don’t love him as much as we love Ryker.  Or he gets angry at Kyle for whatever reason.  

Aaron has had us to himself for years.  This sharing business is a monumental adjustment for him.  

Autism is so tricky…so very hard to understand sometimes.  A lot of times.

Or we understand it on paper but when behaviors affect our joy and our emotions then it’s, quite honestly, maddening.

This is how I look at it.  When we see Aaron having a seizure, we understand what is happening.  We feel concern and empathy for Aaron.  We want to help him and be sure that he is cared for and safe.

However, when we see Aaron’s autism at play, it usually involves some sort of behavior from him.  Sometimes he can be funny or uniquely amazing, but there are also plenty of times that he is disruptive, angry, unreasonable…I’ll stop there.  You get the picture.

When he is seizing, we stay with him until the seizure is over.  We would never tell him to stop seizing.  He can’t, of course.

When he is having an autistic episode of anger or frustration, we try to talk to him…to tell him to stop…to get him to listen to reason.  But he usually can’t, any more than he can stop a seizure.

But that fact is hard to grasp in the middle of everyone’s high emotions.  

When special needs affect behaviors, it is very difficult to have the same level of compassion that we have when there is only a physical effect, such as a seizure.  That’s because behaviors affect others around the person so personally.  Our emotions get involved because we are frustrated, hurt, angry ourselves, disappointed, and the list goes on.  

Aaron reacts to his environment very strongly.  His environment has been turned upside down by the addition of his nephew into his life, as well as his sister and brother-in-law. 

All of this makes me think of that old Tina Turner song: “What’s Love Got To Do With It?”

Nothing, to Aaron.  Not when his world is out of order.

It’s not all bad, though.  Aaron has sweet moments, and we relish those.  

A few nights ago, he wanted Ryker to sit on his bed before they left.  He gave Ryker a necklace of his and laughed in delight at how happy that made Ryker.  Then Aaron ran downstairs to tell Kyle he was sorry for being mean to him earlier.  

Yesterday, Aaron walked outside with Andrea and Ryker. 

 

Aaron was more patient with everyone and didn’t attempt to be the only one talking all during our lunch.

“Was I good when Andrea and Kyle were here, Mom?” he asked me last night. 

He’s so childlike at these times and my heart really goes out to him.

Our prayer is that Uncle Aaron will learn to be secure in his place in our family; to develop a relationship with Ryker as well as Kyle; and to know that he is greatly loved.

And to someday know that his world is not out of order but is instead in a very wonderful order!

Roses in the Right Hands

Yesterday, Aaron and I had so much fun making our annual delivery of Valentine roses to Paradigm, his day group.  The roses are given by our local Dillon’s store, made possible by our sweet friend, Jody.  

I have more fun with this than Aaron does.  He gets nervous about it, wanting things to go just so-so according to his perceived plans.

“Mom,” he told me on our way to Paradigm, “boys shouldn’t get roses.”

“Boys can have a rose if they want one,” I replied.

“But I see only women as being for roses,” he countered.

Oh Aaron.  

So, you can see that Aaron had his mind made up about how this should operate.  I gave him a little pre-event briefing as we drove there, and all was well as far as the guys getting a rose from Aaron.

The roses put smiles on many faces on this Valentine’s Day.  I never capture it in pictures the way I would like but here are a few shots.

Even Piper, the dog, had a rose offered to him by Aaron.

When I watch Aaron’s friends, either at Paradigm or elsewhere, I am so touched by each of their physical struggles.  Recently, Aaron casually mentioned a big change for one of his friends.  It hit me hard.  I wanted to hide behind a closed door away from Aaron and just cry for this dear person.

I watch these special friends of Aaron’s when I pick him up at the end of his day.  Many of their struggles are physical and easily seen.  Some are not so visible but are there just the same.  

I am inspired by their strength amid their daily difficulties…how they accept their situations and keep going…how they laugh and hug and give of themselves to each other.

I saw a quote about a rose that I loved.

“A rose doesn’t talk about its beauty; it just shows it.”

When I look at our special ones, I see a unique kind of beauty.  They don’t know how beautiful they really are…beautiful in the ways that count.  

They don’t talk about their beauty, but they certainly show it in how they love and how they live with resilience and acceptance and strength.  

They’re not held up by the world as models of fame and beauty.  

They don’t swoosh in on a red carpet, cameras flashing, people clapping, gushing with their own vain glory, the subject of tomorrow’s headlines and news reels and parades.

But oh, they show a beauty that far exceeds the gaudy, self-serving lives that are idolized by so much of the world.  

I would give them a million roses if I could, but I hope that the one rose they received yesterday reminds them that they are the true beauties of this world…and they show it every day without saying a word.

Skittles and A Super Bowl Ring

Nearly every day that Aaron is at his day group, one of the staff will take him the short distance down the road to the nearby Quik Trip.  This little outing is the highlight of Aaron’s day.  He loves picking out what food and drink he will buy.  

Aaron especially loves Skittles, but his picky mom (ME!) has told him that he does not need to buy Skittles every day…and he definitely does NOT need to spend the majority of his money on the big bag of Skittles.  A small bag of Skittles a couple times a week is OK.

Aaron has made this rule of Mom’s a big deal.  A very big deal.  He has talked it to death with me…teased relentlessly about buying Skittles when he didn’t buy them…told the staff over and over and over again about how “Mom said NOT to by Skittles!!…and I am quite sure, has talked loudly and clearly to the Quik Trip staff about how his Mom said not to buy Skittles.  

During Christmas, Aaron was taken on his regular trip to Quik Trip.  And guess what?  He was given a special gift from the workers there.

You can probably guess what it was.  

A very BIG container of yummy Skittles!!

Just look at Aaron’s face and you won’t need me to tell you how happy he was.

How I laughed when I saw these pictures!

But more than laughter, I was so touched by the kindness of the Quik Trip workers who obviously have gotten a kick out of talkative Aaron’s Skittles stories. 

What a very nice thing for them to do!

Fast forward now to last week.  Aaron and I had run into our nearby Dillon’s, where he hightailed it to the deli counter as soon as we walked in the door.  I finally caught up to him, only to see him bent over rubbing his hands together and talking loudly in great delight.

“MOM!!” he nearly yelled, “they have Cheddar Pasta Salad today!!!”

Aaron’s love of Cheddar Pasta Salad is well known among the deli staff.  Actually, it’s well known among many of the Dillon’s staff in other departments as well because Aaron makes sure that everybody is at the receiving end of his talking.  

So, on this day I agreed to let him buy a Cheddar Pasta Salad…a LARGE!!…of course!

The very nice woman behind the counter has been getting to know me and Aaron.  She is very patient with Aaron no matter how busy she is.  She has experience with autism because of her own young son.

She happily filled the large container to the brim with the salad while Aaron excitedly oversaw her every move, all the while eagerly talking to her about the upcoming super bowl game.  She told us how busy the deli was as they were preparing platters for the game, and then asked if we would like to see one of the deli trays she had just made.

She showed us the pretty tray and pointed out the super bowl ring that was part of the decoration on the side.  

“Hey Aaron,” she said, “would you like a super bowl ring?”

“Yeah!!” he eagerly answered.

She handed him a ring and he put it right on his finger, a smile spread across his face.  

At Meals on Wheels a couple days later, he wore that ring and showed it to everyone on our route.  

There it was on his finger while we ate our burgers later.  

And I was impressed with how the kindnesses shown to Aaron in these two experiences also show the caring hearts in so many people that cross our paths.  Kindness doesn’t have to come in the form of giving Aaron things, either.

Kindness is also shown by a smile.

Or by not staring at Aaron like he is some sort of oddity.

And certainly, by being willing to listen to Aaron if he happily corners you somewhere with talk of his latest game or book or movie or SKITTLES!!

Being kind to our special son is a huge gift to not only Aaron, but to those of us who love him so much as well.

All our special people will thrive under the sunlight of love and kindness that shines down on them from those we encounter every day.

I am very thankful for those that know this and practice it in our lives. 

Pass the Skittles, Aaron!

I Remember

My husband, Gary, was a helicopter and fixed-wing pilot in the Army for the first nearly 20 years of our marriage.  We were stationed in Colorado when he got orders to serve in Germany.  It’s all a bit of a blur, those months of separation as he attended a school before we went to Germany.  

Finally, it was time for the movers to come.  They loaded up our belongings for transport to Germany.  Well, not all our belongings.  Most of our furniture and all our appliances were put into storage, waiting on our return to the states later…six years later, though we didn’t know at the time it would be that long.

Several more months went by before Gary was assigned temporary quarters.  Off I went with two babies to join him in Germany.  Our temp quarters were on the fourth floor of an old WW2 building.  The laundry room was down in the basement.  Our apartment was full of military furniture that had been used by who knows how many families before us.

Eventually we moved into our permanent quarters.  We had a nice apartment on the top floor of our building, complete with a balcony.  We called this “stairwell living.”  We had some of our furniture but most of what we had was sturdy, used military grade furnishings.  Nothing fancy, for sure, but usable.

All of us wives were in the same boat.  When we would get together, we often found ourselves talking about the furniture we had back in the states.  One missed her living room set, another her big hutch and her nice dishes, or the beautiful bedroom suit one had bought shortly before getting their orders for Germany.

We would laugh and carry on, but all of us did miss what we used to have.

There are times we all miss what used to be.  

The parents who are no longer here on earth.  Or who are here but not here, and we care for them as though they were our children. 

The spouse gone way too soon.

The child that we never dreamed we would lose.

The empty house when all the children are gone.

The healthy body we or our loved one had but is now ravaged by illness or slowed by age.

The friendships damaged beyond repair.

The ministries that once were but are now gone.

We all have our lists, don’t we?  The memories flood in sometimes, and we can say with David in Psalm 42:3-4:

“My tears have been my food day and night…these things I remember and I pour out my soul within me.”

Memories of what was but is no more.

“Sometimes we can remember a ‘before,’ which is no longer present in the ‘now,’ doesn’t seem recoverable, and it saddens and distresses us.”  (Dale Davis)

But David doesn’t end it there.

“O my God, my soul is in despair within me; THEREFORE I remember You from the land of the Jordan and the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.” (v. 6)

No matter his location or how far he was from the familiar paths of his life, David remembered WHO he needed to remember in the middle of his despair.

He remembered God.

God my rock, David said.  

God my hope.

God my help.

God is present with me today, in my now, just as He was in my past.  

All of you who follow Christ can say the same thing.  Yes, memories can be a blessing, but they can also bring pain and depression.  

O God, help us to not only remember what was, but to remember Who IS!

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee.
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not.
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Great is Thy faithfulness,
Great is Thy faithfulness.
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above.
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Great is Thy faithfulness.
Great is Thy faithfulness.
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide.
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.
Blessings all mine with 10,000 beside.

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