Because even if it's the low-tech, fake, old dog version, sometimes it's really good to have a "throwback thursday" to remember God's faithfulness in the past... and trust He will not fail us in the future. So here's where we were on Labor Day, about 8 months ago:
And maybe by our limited physical sight, things at the time looked overwhelming, even desperately hopeless.
But not with our God.
No, not ever with the Omniscient Omnipotent I Am.
He knows the end from the beginning, and on that dark day, He foresaw this bright day when Janie would be picking up her high school cap and gown for graduation. And she'd be singing again. And laughing again. And, sometimes, fussing again!
Our Lord is not bound by any "odds" or hampered by difficulties or discourage by setbacks or frustrated by failures in His people. Nope, He's God. Enough said.
I loved this prayer I read the other day from Scotty Smith: "Gracious Father, there are times when the 'odds' feel quite stacked against us, as your people... But just when I begin to retreat into a basement of fear or question your concern and faithfulness, once again you open the eyes of my heart and show me the way things really are... the way of the Gospel will always be strength in weakness, the transforming treasure of the gospel in fragile clay pots, like us. It was three hundred poorly armed soldiers, not thirty-four thousand fighting men, You sent with Gideon to defeat the Midianite army. Jesse's youngest son, David, a young shepherd, was Your choice to be king of Israel. Most profoundly, it was the crucifixion of Jesus, not an insurrection of zealots, that won our salvation. Father, the odds are never really stacked against your covenant purposes and your transforming kingdom. You're not 'trying' to do anything. You never have to resort to plan B. You never hedge your bets. You are God and there is no other."
Maybe no one else out there needed reminding of this today, but I always do--slow learner that I am.
No matter what it may look like in your life right now: God is in control. He is superintending all the events in your life for your greater good and His greater glory. He has no plan B--it's always His Perfect Plan that cannot be thwarted. Period.
"And we know that for those who love God, ALL things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28) Not "most" things. Not "nearly all" things. Not the "positive" or "good" or "successful" things. ALL ALL ALL things. This word in the Greek means...
ALL, as in, God takes every cotton-picking thing in our lives--the good, bad, indifferent, confusing, frustrating, worrisome, troubling, terrible--and supernaturally combines and transforms them ALL into something good and beautiful and ultimately glorious.
All things--not my words. His. Do we believe it?
Sometimes it helps to take a little "throwback thursday" to recall His faithfulness to us in the past when things looked awfully discouraging or even desperate. He did it before. He will do it again...and again. Because that's who He is--the God who never fails, whose compassion never fails, and whose faithfulness never fails to extend into eternity and beyond.
"It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, said my soul; therefore will I hope in Him." (Lam.3:22-24)
So today, might we take a "throw-back thursday" and recall His goodness, His faithfulness, His mercy, and His grace to us in the past. Then tell Him thank You. And trust Him to do it again... and again... and again...all the way till He takes us home.
Throw-back. Thank. Trust. That's the formula to soothe a troubled soul and heal a harried heart.
To God--our forever faithful, Trust-worthy One--be all the glory.
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