Great is Your Faithfulness

Last weekend I visited my sister's church in Cheney and was blessed to witness a momentous event, the water baptism of my lovely niece, Zarah.  I love baptisms.  I love the excitement in the room, and the look on people's faces when they get to declare, "Oh boy, I'm making an out-loud statement to the world today that I love Jesus.  I'm going to follow Him, serve Him, and live for Him all the rest of my days."

Whew, it's pretty fantastic. 

After the baptisms we worshiped God with music.  I love praising God with music just as much as I love baptisms.  So, at this point, as you can well imagine, I felt a little like I was going to explode with excitement.  Here I was in a room full of people who were loving Jesus just like me.  Not only that, but some of those people were my favorite people.  My brother-in-law Tim was running sound board, sitting behind him was my nephew Geoff. My niece Querida, was rocking the piano, and my mother and daughter were sitting right next to me.  Across the aisle, were my niece Zarah, nephew Xavier and next to them, with her hands raised, was one of my very best friends, my sister Amy. 

Then we came to a hymn I haven't sung in years.  This hymn resonated straight to the core of my very being.  It was as if the person who wrote the words had walked a mile or two in the very sneakers I was in.  The hymn was "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 has been Thou forever wilt 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

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside!

That was when I started fighting tears of joy and gratitude.  It was truly an amazing morning full of God's reminders of his faithfulness.  I had to take a moment to let it all sink in.  It was almost as if I was looking at a giant road map with a huge red "X" to mark your location.  Instead of the phrase "you are here" printed above the red "X", the words "The Holy Spirit is right here, hanging out with you guys," was printed in bold black lettering.  You know, the kind of bold lettering you can't miss, even from across the street.  He was definitely making His presence known, and marking His location. 

I love those moments.  Those are the kind of  moments I want to store on the tip of my memory bank in the "easily retrievable" section. For those times when I'm not on the mountain top with God, and heading into a storm, needing a reminder of His faithfulness. 

Lamentations 3:21-24 NLT
"Yet I still dare to hope
    when I remember this:
The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
    His mercies never cease.
Great is His faithfulness;
    his mercies begin afresh each morning.
I say to myself, "The Lord is my inheritance;
    I will hope in Him!"