He’s Always Been Faithful

YouTube Link of Sara Groves Song

I woke up early this morning … REALLY EARLY … 5 am. Changes are coming … big ones … you know the type I mean. I tried to sleep … thoughts kept running through my head. I wasn't expecting these changes and if I'd had it my way I would have somehow avoided them. Changes that will make life – for a time … uncomfortable. Changes that will require extra energy, extra time, extra work, extra appointments … And I'm exhausted just thinking of them.

I've been strong this week in the face of these coming changes. I've done all I knew to do, was responsible to take action where it was needed, but I was weary … Weary? So why was I awake at 5 am??!!

Somewhere in the activity of this past week, in the business of all that needed attending to, the decisions that needed to be made … in the output of so much energy …I DID hear him encouraging me, I waited on him, prayed to him, asked for guidance, was inspired, was lead and directed. And yet here I was awake at 5 am … on a Saturday no less!!

And so I rolled out of bed – reassured my worried husband that I was (mostly) fine - and made my way to the cold dark kitchen, and to my laptop to find a distraction from the thoughts that were hounding my head and my heart.

I'll be honest … I wasn't necessarily searching for a 'divine intervention'. And yet … that is what exactly what God came to bring me. To really appreciate what God did here … you first have to know something about me.

One of the dearest hymns to my heart has been 'Great is Thy Faithfulness'. Over the years I've sung this song in a small church in northern Saskatchewan when I was still young and naive to what life would still hold for me. Over the years, it's deepened in its poignancy, as I have been witness to the faithfulness of God's character … in so many people's lives, but especially in mine. This song has become my anthem, a life song … and it goes to very deep places in me. It can turn my worried and anxious heart to one of peace and calm in a moment. I've sung this song in quiet moments when I felt sure and safe; it was one Mike and I chose to have sung it at our wedding; and I hope someone remembers to have it sung at my funeral. It is probably the truest testimony of God that I know.

So in the middle of my morning, my searching for a distraction - a distraction from the leftovers of a wearying week … I came across an artist, Sara Groves. I've heard her name, but wasn't familiar with anything she'd sung. So there was no reason why I was searching her songs in particular. I randomly surfed and aimlessly searched … I had no idea that God had, the whole time been guiding my clicking to this very song … 'He's Always Been Faithful to Me' … nor did I realize the connection it had to my favourite hymn 'Great is thy faithfulness'. Not until I was able to hear a full version of the song.

As I listened, with tears streaming down my face … dripping off my nose (LOL) … I realized that God sent me a personal letter for my early morning restlessness. It had my name on it and was marked 'Personal and Confidential'. How did I know it was JUST for me? He used the first line of Sara's song 'Great is Thy Faithfulness' --- It caught my attention, that is sung in a simple way to say 'I know you! I know what you need! Right now … in this moment, and I'm here to provide just what you need'. Beyond the first line, woven in and out of that old familiar song, were these new words that reminded me once again of the absoluteness of his faithfulness. And my heart sang with it ... from a deep place inside me … from a place that knew how God could quiet concerns of the immediate; plans to be made; the to-do lists; and the 'what ifs' and 'what if nots'.

'All I have need of .. His hand will provide. He's always been faithful ….
He's always been faithful …
He's always been faithful … to me'. 

You know in the bible David at times seems like he has two personalities. One that is human and weak and failable. And one that commands his soul, reminding it, chastising it, getting its attention 'In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?' and to praise him in the middle of hardship with 'Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him Ps 42:5'.

And so it was with me as I listened and cried. The tears were not just because he had interrupted my search for a distraction … but because I felt the personal and loving hand of God, my father. Concerned with every detail I am concerned for. His personal knowledge of what that song meant to me, he used to send me a clear message: that he was watching over, not only my circumstances, but my poor weary heart. He was waiting for me at my kitchen table at 5 am … with just what I needed to face the rest of my day, and my week, and the days ahead.

Interestingly, the sun is up now … and I can see across the field behind our house, what I couldn't see at 5 am. And I hear God whispering to me … 'I will make all things clear, in my time, and I continue to be faithful to all of your needs.'

HE'S ALWAYS BEEN FAITHFUL TO ME
Sara Groves, Conversations CD
YouTube Link of Sara Groves Song

Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me

Morning by morning I wake up to find
The power and comfort of God's hand in mine
Season by season I watch Him, amazed
In awe of the mystery of His perfect ways

All I have need of, His hand will provide
He's always been faithful to me
I can't remember a trial or a pain
He did not recycle to bring me gain
I can't remember one single regret
In serving God only, and trusting His hand

All I have need of, His hand will provide
He's always been faithful to me

This is my anthem, this is my song
The theme of the stories Ive heard for so long
God has been faithful, He will be again
His loving compassion, it knows no end

All I have need of, His hand will provide
He's always been faithful, He's always been faithful
He's always been faithful to me
..

Originally written February 2, 2008