Great Is Thy Faithfulness

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 ten thousand beside!

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!

There is something about hymns that takes me to a place of simplicity, quietness and reverence. They take me back to 6:00 o clock Sunday Evening services at First Baptist Church in Canyon. They remind me of a time in my life when life was less crazy and every turn in my walk with the Lord was new and exciting. Being a new Christian and seven at the same time was odd, but it was when the other kids in the youth group hated hymns, that I liked them. I learned how to harmonize from singing hymns and reading the alto line in the hymn book. They are sound. They are relevant and more than that, they are everlasting. When was the last time you sang, oh, Shout to the Lord, ya, a few yaers maybe? Praise songs are wonderful, but they fade in and out of "popularity'. Hymns will forever be sung. They are deep yet simple songs of faith, from the Word.

I'm so glad He is faithful, even when I am not.

Sitting here at home this evening after a long day of wrapping, arranging, blowing up balloons, running around town, eating dinner with the inlaws, etc and my soul finally quiets. I'm just sitting, wide open, vulnerable and needy for the Lord to sit quietly with me at my little table in my humble house. If He doesn't mind coming and sitting with me for awhile, it would be lovely. Seeing that the last week, well, weeks, I have seemed to have ignored him. I hate that. I do. I desperately need Him and yet I keep putting myself back into the driver's seat, thinking, for some dumb reason that I can drive this car better than He.

There is so much change and newness ahead of us, right ahead actually. I'm so ready for some of these changes to take place and some of them I am not. I guess I've been that way my whole life. I was so incredibly scared to go to Jr High, while everyone else was pumped. I hated Jr High, with every fiber of my being I hated it. so much. Then everyone was scared to go to high school and I was so ready! I was excited and I loved high school so very much. Change in my life has been good and bad, scary and safe, wanted and unwanted. Either way, it happens, regardless of my opinion on it or my desires for it. I'm glad I don't have a say in some of the changes or else I would have and will miss out on so many good things, lessons learned and even hurt experienced.

The hymn, "I have decided to follow Jesus" was the song that I "walked down the aisle" to, to tell everyone I was accepting Jesus. Pretty fitting I suppose. I have not always lived it though. I have decided to ignore Jesus is more like it. At age seven I didn't know how hard it would be to trust and follow, I just knew I wanted Jesus to be the one I followed. I didn't realize it would entail hurting others, being hurt, feeling lonely, being alone, sacrificing or even that I would receive more blessings than I have ever known. At seven I just simply loved Jesus and realized I needed him to save me from "lying to my parents, being mean to my sister, and most of all eternity without him". There were things I didn't realize I would go through and that the journey with him would have so many twists and turns, even though it is called the "straight and narrow". I'm glad I trusted him at seven. I'm glad I trust him at 24. I'm so incredibly blessed that I have parents who have allowed me to be raised in such a secure and steadfast home. Foundation secure, roots firmly planted and love pouring over.

My life has been filled and has runneth over with blessings. Abundant blessings.

On June 23, 2007 I walked down the same church aisle, different color carpet, thank goodness, at First Baptist Church Canyon to become Mrs. Nicholas Weisgerber. I entered into the most precious covenant relationship I will ever have besides the one I walked into down that same aisle in 1992. "Come thou Fount of Every Blessing" was strummed as my daddy walked me down. One Godly man, secure and strong, walking me into another man's arms, strong and secure. The same God who drew me into an adventure with himself was now drawing me into an adventure with my sweet Nick.

Hymns will always be the deepest woven strands of my heritage and my soul. When parts of my heart are breaking or torn by life, the strands that were wrapped in the hymns of my childhood have held strong and have sometimes held my weary heart together. The strength in the words are a tangible reminder of the one who is holding all things together, sustaining all things in His power and sovereignty.

So in the quietness of this evening, in the midst of many changes inside and out, I hold fast to the Word, evident in the hymns of my growing up. They have been the soundtrack of my life and I pray they always be sung in my head, hummed as I do my daily activities and shared with the generations to follow me.

I desire that my children and their children and so on, whether or not the "church" thinks their relevant or not, learn them and know them and at least appreciate how they have woven my heritage into their own.