Just when a day feels bleak, God gives us reminders of His love. Sandra shares how she recalls, great is Your faithfulness!
“Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him.” (Lamentations 3:21-23, 25)
Worry is a waste of time and energy. It produces nothing but more worry until the worry consumes us. For those of us with chronic illness we often have many legitimate things we worry about; medical bills, family needs, constant pain, and we feel helpless as we face our future. The irony of this is that worry accomplishes nothing, and can actually harm our health even more.
But we do have hope! “Because of the Lords great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”
I will admit to worrying lately. I have been sick for over a month with sinus infection and many kidney stones with a kidney infection. As soon as the antibiotic is gone, the infection blooms right back. My pain is bigger, and my strength is weaker. Am I going to be able to shake this off? Will this make me weaker permanently? I pray, then later find myself worrying again.
I am a morning person. I often cannot stay in bed past 6 AM. Last week I was sipping my coffee and praying, but I was restless in my worrying. I began opening the curtains in our country home for my cat to look out the window. The sun was just beginning to lighten the sky and sunbeams shone down through the white fluffy clouds. There was just a slip of a fog flowing through our valley between the hills.
In our backyard I saw four bunnies, two of them were little babies with their ears bigger than their little bodies. There were cardinals, chickadees, sparrows, tufted titmouse, yellow finches with their bright colors, and house finches with their subdued red color on their chests. All of the birds were sharing the feeders, and eating seeds and food on the ground. Past our yard and up on a hill I saw two deer standing and watching.
I gave my worry to the creator of the dawn! The compassion of the Lord will never fail. His faithfulness is wonderful, majestic, true, and new every morning!
Prayer: Lord, I repent of my worry. I give myself to you every morning. I will trust in Your faithfulness, put my hope in You, and seek You every morning. Amen.
About the Author:
Sandra is a minister’s wife, and mother of two adult kids. She enjoys living in the hills of rural Southern Indiana. She has written devotionals for Rest Ministries for many years and enjoys the friendship and fellowship. She has multiple chronic illnesses and two years ago was confined to a wheelchair. She enjoys cross stitching, baking, and being involved in the life of a pastorate.
Many years ago a friend counseled me to write down all of the things I was worried about. Then I was to set it on my desk with my Bible, and I would be able to slowly get used to leaving my cares with Him as I go to sleep. I have taken than exercise to the point where I list things in my journal and pray about them, and then I put the date of answered prayer in red ink. I challenge you to list your worries and give them to God, watch Him work when you let go.
Can we ever get tired of hearing “Great is Thy Faithfulness?” We don’t think so. This is a beautiful video with the amazing voice of CeCe Winans. It will touch your heart.
Sandy: No, It’s always a blessing to be reminded about God’s faithfulness.
Being a nature lover myself, I would also be blessed by seeing the creatures you saw as the sun rose the morning you speak of.
I really like the idea of writing down worries and giving them to Him before falling asleep, or at least regularly. I think that, for some of us, the act of writing and seeing in on paper what we’re fretting over helps to clarify it in our own minds. And then, to give each one specifically to the Lord pleases Him and exercises our faith.
Thanks much for this Sandy.
Grace & peace, Beth.
Sandy, Beth, I used to live in the country and oh how sometimes I miss it so much,
But when I read this I had to smile.
I am not an early riser. But when I wake I go and sip my coffee on my front porch. I have a couple of flowering plants that I don’t even know the name of, but hummingbirds love. They are by far my favorite of God’s creatures. I even have names for them now! They know not the tremendous strengh the Lord has given them in their wings versus their body size. They also know not the beauty He has given them. I try to hank Him for each one, for what they can remind me of in my own life, but usually the first one or two of the morning do I do this. For the Lord is also my source of strength.
Having several chronic illnesses and severe pain, and lately being down first with fractured ribs and shortly after they healed I now am healing from a broken back, I get depressed easily with worry not only for my health but finances and my spouse who suffers from disabling depression, etc.,, etc., I love the idea of this journal. I have already seen many miracles in the past few years. Things that you just know could not have happened witthout His hand. It’s time for me to pray and just know without fail He will send more miracles our way. Seeing them and giving Him the credit for even the small ones would a journal like this help with.. The big ones are usually easily seen but how many smaller ones that sometimes even lead to the big ones has He sent our way? A journal like this would surely help me see them.
The hummingbirds are my first reminder of His love each day.
Thank you Sandy for the great idea!
Linda
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Dear Sandra,
What a perfect message you sent me today. My weekend and today revolved around moving my Mom to an assisted living facility. She has numerous chronic illnesses and could no longer stay in her own home. I have been consumed worrying about how she will adjust and am I doing the right thing. Since I am still working and dealing with my own chronic pain, I feel guilty that I can’t be the one to take care of her. I needed the reminder to give my worries to the Lord. Thank you for the reminder and also the idea about the journal. I will begin one tonight.
Bless you,
Pam
I am so thankful for your responses! Yes, we have many hummingbirds and they are magnificient aren’t they? We have the feeders on the front porch where I can watch them directly from the recliner chair. I see the other beautiful birds I wrote about from our kitchen table.
I have been keeping a journal for many decades and have written of the trials and blessings of being a Pastor’s wife. I have seen many miracles and answers to prayer over the years, but still I tend to worry, especially as my health worsens and my pain multiplies. Keeping a journal and writing down my worries causes me to see the worries on paper and one by one give them to my Father.