The Form of Our Fears

I remember as a child how my mother would ask me to run down to the basement to get something for her.  Maybe it was food she needed out of the freezer or a jar of beans she had canned.  I dreaded those basement trips because of the fear that would often grip me.  There were too many hiding places down there and my imagination would go wild.  I especially disliked going back up the stairs as I imagined someone following me from behind or a hand reaching out and grabbing my ankle.  I ran up those stairs as fast as I could, breathing in huge relief as I entered the door to our kitchen where I found warmth and safety.  

The early nation of Israel faced a great fear as they fought their enemies in the land God had promised them.  The last group that is mentioned in Joshua 11 are the Anakim. These were the giants who had terrorized the spies 40 years earlier.  Ten of the twelve spies had said nope to the idea of entering the land, saying that those horrible giants made them look like grasshoppers.  

Now all those years later, here was Israel facing their giants again.  Joshua 11:21-22 succinctly states that in the last battle for the land, the Anakim were cut off and there were no Anakim left.  God gave Israel the final victory over this enemy that they greatly feared.  God would have won that battle forty years earlier, but Israel chose to live in fear and unbelief instead.

We all have those giants in our lives…things or situations that we fear.  The state of our nation and the world today can easily cause us to fear for our future.  But usually, our fears are much more personal.  Reality can barrel into our happy lives and knock us off our feet with no warning.  

As a follower of Christ, though, we have Him behind us.  We don’t need to run up the stairs in fear.  

I love what Dale Davis said in his commentary on the book of Joshua.

“God’s power is adequate to meet our most dreadful fears.  Our situation is both different from and similar to Israel’s.  The form of our fears is different; the adequacy of our God is the same.”

Scripture tells us that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  We serve the same God of endless power today that Israel knew way back in the day.  

Same God.  Same power.  Same love and plan for each of our lives.

God is more than able to defeat your giants, no matter how scary they are.  

I don’t want to keep running up the stairs in fear of what might attack me.  With God by my side, I can take each step calmly and in full faith that He is with me to fight for me.  

This old hymn expresses it well:

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms

What have I to dread,
What have I to fear,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
I have blessed peace
With my Lord so near,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.


Leaning, leaning,
Safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.

Lean On Me, Aaron

Yesterday Aaron and I went to his annual PCSP meeting.  How many years have we had these meetings?  More than I can nearly remember.  

His case manager and I decided several years ago to hold our meeting at one of Aaron’s favorite restaurants, Carlos O’Kelly’s.  Aaron really doesn’t like meetings that discuss him unless we’re letting him do all the talking about really important stuff.  You know – matters like whether Pluto is a planet or not, what solar flares are, and are black holes really sucking in stars?!  But mulling over matters of his likes and dislikes, what he is or is not allowed to do at his day group, what his goals are, and so on and so forth…well, Aaron would rather leave the room and find someone who IS wanting to hear him talk about planets, flares, and black holes.  But put a plate of enchiladas, chips and salsa in front of him and he’ll endure our needless talk.

Aaron had gotten out of bed super early the past two mornings.  Space videos on YouTube were calling to him, I guess.  As we sat in our booth munching on chips and salsa, he started leaning and leaning until finally he was resting against me like a little child.  

I eased him over and he sat straight for a couple minutes, but then he began leaning into me again.  I knew that he was sleepy from his very early mornings and from his meds, but still I kept propping him up so he could eat and participate in the meeting if needed.

Later, as I drove us home, I looked over at him sleeping soundly in his seat.

  

He is sometimes showing that age is creeping up on him.  He even seems a little feeble at times, like he did as he leaned on me during lunch.  I know that seizures are taking a toll.  He has memory loss, tremors, drooling sometimes, and other effects of both seizures and medicines.  

My heart is stirred with so much love for him.  So much concern for his life now, and for what the future will hold for him.

Yet there are those other moments, too…more and more, it seems.  Moments when Aaron is frustrated when things are not going his way at his time.  He is becoming more impatient with waiting, more set in his routine, and more expressive when those frustrations mount.

Therefore, Gary and I are finding ourselves more stretched on some days.  Our own frustrations mount along with Aaron’s.  Stress seeps through every crack in our strong armor.

I look at Aaron leaning on me, and I know that he needs me when he is struggling, both physically and emotionally.  His reactions are often beyond his control.  Sometimes that fact is hard to remember.

So, who do I lean upon?  

God.

Yes, Gary and I support each other.  I have amazing friends who walk a similar journey to ours.  I have great family on both sides.

But it is God Who leans down to me as He did the other night and fills me with deep peace even as the storm swirls around me…Who understands my struggles…Who speaks comfort to me…Who assures me with these words:

“Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate (feed on) faithfulness.”   (Psalm 37:3)

I can feed on so many things like anger, comparisons to others, resentment…the list goes on.  

Or I can obey God and lean into Him.  He understands my need.  And I must understand my need to trust Him and do good.

To feed on faithfulness even when I just want to walk away.

Faithfulness to God, and faithfulness to our Aaron.

Knowing that this is also true:

“Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him and He will do it.”  (Psalm 37:5)

Commit.  Lay on God’s shoulders the heavy burden.  

He is strong enough for all my burdens and He is there for me to lean upon when I am tired and done.

And oh, I cannot express enough about the grace that God gives me to continue putting one foot in front of the other, day after day with Aaron.

It’s not one bit about how strong I am or that God gave Aaron to such an amazing parent.

But it IS all about how God meets me in my most down moments with His sweet peace and His words that speak such joy and comfort to me.

And as I learn to lean on God, I can be there for Aaron when he needs to lean on me. 

God holds me up so that I can do the same for Aaron.  

That’s even more amazing than all the black holes in the universe!

My Cross As A Crutch

Yesterday evening I was feeling particularly burdened over several things.  I felt the weight of the loads of life more than usual.

Harsh angry words from Aaron earlier in the day still reverberated in my mind.  Even worse were my own angry words thrown out to him in response.  

Then heavy on my heart was my conversation with the husband of my dear friend of many years.  Her disease is ravaging her mind, and my mind can’t wrap around the reality of that.  Emotions that I have kept in check spilled from my eyes.

I took my old Streams in the Desert devotional book and sat on the patio, soaking in the fresh air and the beginning of dusk.  I turned to the day’s date and saw this verse:  “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”  (Mark 8:34)

I began to read the words of Alexander Smellie, a Scottish preacher who died 100 years ago.  

“The cross which my Lord bids me take up and carry may assume different shapes.  There are many crosses, and every one of them is sore and heavy.  But never is Jesus so near me as when I lift my cross, and lay it submissively on my shoulder, and give it the welcome of a patient and unmurmuring spirit.  He draws close, to ripen my wisdom, to deepen my peace, to increase my courage, to augment my power to be of use to others, through the very experience which is so grievous and distressing, and then…I grow under the load.”

Then the author added this:

“Use your cross as a crutch to help you on, and not as a stumbling block to cast you down.”

I know there are several meanings that carrying our cross conveys, yet all of them indicate a difficult load in life.  Every person I know is carrying a burden today, some more than others.

But Jesus also promised that if we come to Him with our burdens, He will give us rest:  “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”  (Matthew 11:30)

The word “easy” means “tailor made.”  God knows exactly what is best for me, for my dear friends, for you.  He is not cruel.  Read again what the old Scottish preacher said.  

God is near in our burdens, giving us wisdom and filling us with purpose and peace we can learn no other way.

Oh, may I…may you…use our crosses as a crutch to help us walk through this life in a way that honors our Heavenly Father and grows us more like Him.

My Home Is God

Gary and I spent six years in Germany thanks to the U.S. Army.  Our youngest son was born there.  It was a wonderful time for us in many ways in that beautiful country.  But I will admit that when we came home to the States on visits, and then finally to stay, we felt a huge sense of relief.  We had a home in Germany but back in America we were HOME.  We knew the language, we understood the culture, and our family was near.

I’ve been reading in the book of Hosea about how Israel kept rejecting God’s best for them.  They kept looking to the nations around them as examples they should follow.  Therefore, they participated in gross false worship and many other sins against God.

In Hosea 8:9, God said they had gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey wandering alone.  Like the donkeys, Israel was restless in her sad and useless search for a god to worship and for a life of meaning. They kept rejecting the answer that was there for them all along…God Himself.

Don’t we see this attitude all around us today?  So many are searching for meaning in life but not wanting to turn to the only One Who can give them purpose and meaning.  

We all know how sad our world is today.  So many are devoid of hope and peace so they turn to whatever their Assyria is.  Abortion.  Drugs.  Sexual perversions.  Gender dysfunction.  

Or maybe our wandering hearts turn to more benign diversions, ones that seem ok.  A good job.  Money.  Getting ahead.  Sports.  Entertainment.

But still, deep in our hearts, we are unsettled.  We know there is more.  And after this life…what then?

God has put this desire for peace in our hearts for a reason.  That reason is so we will search for Him.  

“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”   (Jeremiah 29:13)

God loves us.  God loves YOU.  

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”  (John 3:16)

Believe in Him and accept His gift of salvation through Christ alone.

            My Home is God Himself; Christ brought me there.

            I laid me down within His mighty arms;

            He bore me where no foot but His has trod,

            Within the holiest at home with God,

            And bade me dwell in Him, rejoicing there.

            O Holy Place!  O Home divinely fair!

            And we, God’s little ones, abiding there.

            My Home is God Himself; it was not so!

            A long, long road I traveled night and day,

            And sought to find within myself some way,

            Aught I could do, or feel to bring me near;

            And then I found Christ was the only way,

            That I must come to Him and in Him stay,

            And God had told me so.

            And now my Home is God, and sheltered there,

            God meets the trials of my earthly life,

            God compasses me round from storm and strife,

            God takes the burdens of my daily care.

            O Wondrous Place!  O Home divinely fair!

            And I, God’s little one, safe hidden there.

            Lord, as I dwell in Thee and Thou in me,

            So make me dead to everything but Thee;

            That as I rest within my Home so fair;

            My soul may evermore and only see

            My God in everything and everywhere;

            My Home is God.    (Author unknown)

God is waiting for you.

Come home today.  

Stepping Into the Mist

Several years ago, I turned onto a road near our house, and this was the scene that met my eyes.

I couldn’t see very far ahead.  And even though I knew the road, I didn’t know what might be on the road out of my sight.  The fog hid what was there, beyond my vision, but I knew I needed to go forward.

If you know Jesus as your Savior and are following Him, you know that there are certain times that He puts you on a road that is shrouded in the unknown.  I see it around me all the time, either with family and friends, or those that I don’t personally know.  And I have experienced it in my own life.

I will never forget the day that Aaron had his sudden first big seizure.  We were living in Germany where Gary was stationed in the military.  Aaron’s seizure was completely unexpected and terrifying.  I remember the cold fear that squeezed my heart.  Then came the ambulance ride, the days in the German children’s hospital, the language barrier, the exhaustion, and the shocking diagnosis of Epilepsy.  

But I also remember our first night back home, when I could finally sit at my desk and cry the tears I had held back all week.  And there it was…God’s amazing peace filled my hurting heart.  He reminded me that He had not gone anywhere…that He was with me and with Aaron…and that He was the same God whose character I had known for many years.  He had not changed one bit.  He had a reason for this unexpected bend in the road…this fog that I could not see through still held Him there with me.  

I could freeze in fear or be angry with God or be bitter about why He allowed such a thing to happen to our little Aaron.

Or I could step out in faith and trust in my heavenly Father.

I love what F. B. Meyer said: “There is nothing, indeed, which God will not do for a man who dares to step out upon what seems to be the mist; though as he puts down his foot he finds a rock beneath him.”

Moses knew this about God when he spoke to the assembly of Israel:

“For I proclaim the name of the Lord; ascribe greatness to our God!

The ROCK!  His work is perfect, for all His ways are just.

A God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He.

(Deuteronomy 32:3-4)

Whatever you are going through today, know that if you are following God, He will be your firm rock in the mists of fear and uncertainty.  

You will find a rock beneath your feet and that rock is God Himself.

And some day you will see that same road clearly, in all its purposes, as the best plan that God could ever have for you.

But We Need the Rain

It sure has been stormy over a large part of the country this spring.  We have had our share of strong storms here in Kansas as well.  After several years of drought, the comment I hear over and over after another storm…and have many times said myself…is, “But we need the rain!” 

Storms certainly can be beneficial, and beautiful, too.  

But they can be hard as well, and scary.

I woke up this morning to another storm passing through.  But I also had the thought of life’s storms on my mind.  That’s because Aaron had five hard seizures during the night.  I finally had to give him a rescue med.  These times with Aaron leave me in an emotional frame of mind, vulnerable in my spirit.  It’s important that I corral my thoughts and there is no better way to do that than to spend time with the Lord.

I opened my old devotional book, Streams in the Desert, to today’s date.  The scripture today was from Mark 4.  It’s the story of Jesus getting in the boat with His disciples on the Sea of Galilee.  The first sentence on the page was this:

“Even when we go forth at Christ’s command, we need not expect to escape storms…”

The storm outside my window matched the storm in my heart, and so God had a special storm story for me.  I love His love for me!  I love how He gives to me exactly what I need, exactly when I need it.

Jesus knew that His disciples would encounter a strong storm out on the lake. After all, He created the storm!  The disciples, terrified, cried out to Jesus as the storm tossed the boat.  Jesus, asleep, was awakened by their frantic voices asking Him if He didn’t even care that they were perishing.

Jesus calmed the storm and then gently rebuked them.

“Why are you afraid?” he asked them.  “Do you still have no faith?”

Jesus put His followers in a place of testing.  In their storm, He showed His power and in so doing, He used it to increase their faith.  

I have learned, especially in our life with Aaron, that God has put me in a boat and said, “Let’s go over to the other side.”  

But getting there involves hard times.  I don’t like the storms, but how they increase my faith and my love for Him!

Just like realizing how much we need the rain that our storms have brought, so I realize that the sufferings of my life bring me what God knows I need.

And this lesson is huge:  God hasn’t commanded me to understand.  He HAS commanded me to trust.  

If I had all the answers as to the why’s of suffering, I would have no need to trust.  In learning to trust, my walk with God is sweeter and deeper than I would ever have known otherwise.

“We never know how much real faith we have until it is put to the test in some fierce storm; and that is the reason why the Savior is on board.”   (Streams in the Desert)

God in His kindness ended this day with a gorgeous sky, a perfect picture of the beauty of knowing and trusting Him.

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.  

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!”

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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