Lamentations

Today in Bible Study, the topic of discussion was the fall of Israel, in a time at which the people had been so horribly sinful that our God of Hope said there was no remedy for them. The people were so desperately lost that even God recognized no way for His own chosen people to be saved. That terrifies me that we can fall so far away from Him that He won't take us back.

There have been situations in my life and marriage that I felt there were no remedy, no hope, no chance for revival. Lamentations, the book of the Bible written by Jeremiah, was written about that desolate time in Israel's history. The word lament is defined at dictionary.com as “to feel or express sorrow or regret for”. It's a book written in the depths of despair and pain. So many of my own journals have been lamentations.

My favorite part of Jeremiah's Lamentations is where the author writes in chapter 3, verses 21-23, “...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 people of Israel did evil in the eyes of God, generation after generation after generation. They hardly ever got it right. They screwed up to the point that God let them be destroyed except for a few of them. God let those few live so they would remember what happened and could warn future generations. Sounds familiar.

Our generation is blessed to have the generation who grew up during The Great Depression. Those folks have a lot to teach our spoiled and coddled generation. It is up to us, however, to be resilient enough to learn from them instead of making those same avoidable mistakes ourselves. One of my favorite sayings is “Life is too short to make your own mistakes; learn from others' and save yourself some time and heartache.”

I find myself thanking God for the trails of others and the gift of resiliency, that I might learn from the hardships of others and in acknowledging God for them, He will make my paths straight. I thank God for bringing those people into my life, and I thank Him for bringing me to life through them. God is so good!

these are the moments

Here I sit, working on a Saturday night. I am feeling so blessed right now that I want to write it down so I can read it when I need to, or look back on it over time and smile.

I'm working while the Packers take on the 49ers in the NFL Playoffs. Nikki texted me just a moment ago, encouraging me to listen to another moving Eagle Brook Church sermon and I'm about to fire up another podcast about getting my daily dose of God. Good stuff! How blessed am I to have a friend who has the wellbeing of my heart and soul on her mind.

Adam fell asleep in my arms after a day of family time at home. Tim is such a good daddy for him and Adam adores him for it. Tim and I do nigh' night prayer with Adam and I give Adam snuggles and lay him down for him to fall asleep on his own. Tonight, though, my sweet boy nuzzled in and fell asleep in my arms (a rarity these days), so I treasured it and snapped a picture with my phone. I am so blessed to have God's confidence in raising His children!

Tim's in the basement practicing his guitar for tomorrow's worship service at church. We're excited to enjoy lunch with our Pastor's family and another family after the service tomorrow. We love our church family and are so blessed to be involved with a great church just 2 miles from where we live! And what an honor to have been invited to our Pastor's home!

Today I posted a pic on Facebook of Adam wearing his “big brother” shirt and it's been a hit with nearly 90 likes and 50 comments. I am feeling the love! Our friends and family, regardless of how close we are to them, are lifting us up and I'm truly humbled by it. We're so blessed to have so many people who care about us!

I hope we can remember to honor God always, even when we don't feel like it or are falling and failing in life. Something I've been meditating on this week has been Proverbs 3:5-6, which reads, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Let that bless us as we put our faith in the one true place where it will never fail. Praise God for that!