Great Is Thy Faithfulness

In church this morning, we sang the old hymn "Great Is Thy Faithfulness." My mom said something to me that has left me thinking all day long. She said that she loved that song because it was like a mile marker for her life. She could remember singing it from the time she was just a little girl, and it is as true for her today when she is almost fifty as it was then. God has always been there and he has always been faithful.

That song means the same thing to me.

Sometimes it seems like my life is really segmented.

I remember early life with my mom and dad and brother. We lived in Kansas and Texas and God knows where else. I remember cold weather and the newness of everything we all probably identify with early childhood.

I remember middle childhood where my family struggled to make it as a single parent family. I remember desert sun at this time in my life. I remember even then how it felt like a different life.

I remember my teenage years. We lived in a house consistently then. My grandparents were there as much as my mom. We had a lot more money because my grandparents helped support us.

I remember my college years--spent far away from the desert city. I remember snow and independence and excitement for the future. I remember good friends who were like family. I was at a Christian college. I learned a lot about God and maybe more about myself.

Now, here I am in early adulthood. I try to make it as a public school teacher. I work a lot and study and write. It is hard for me now, much more than when I was in college, to see the big picture. I guess you could say I can't see the forest for the trees.

Sometimes all the segments of my life seem really disconnected. When I sing "Great Is Thy Faithfulness," though, I remember the common thread for it all: The Lord is faithful.

In my early childhood, I prayed to someone I didn't know. He heard me. I know that now, and in some way I knew that then.

In my middle childhood, I prayed as some sort of insurance policy. He heard me anyway.

In my teenage years, I really came to see God's faithfulness in my life. I found joy in that.

In my college years, my recognition of God's faithfulness grew as did my relationship with Him.

In young adulthood, I've given a lot of myself to my work--work God led me to. All along, though, He's been faithful in reminding me what matters. I am just starting to see that now. I wouldn't have seen it without the struggles.

My story isn't really fragmented at all. It is what it has always been: the story of God's faithfulness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPcTOWf9g7o