A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity Proverb 17:17 NIV
In the Spring of ’86 just as the days were turning warm With the money they had saved they bought the field above the farm And as their boys ran through the hayfield, they watched the cows below Then imagined how their house would look and where the garden ought to go
The Snickels watched their home being built as it took about a year Then they sorted, prayed and planned when they saw the time growing near For the move out to the country and to leave their friends behind Oh, what a great adventure, that they pictured in their mind
But as the seasons came and went, very soon their two boys grew tall While the garden that they planted filled up the canning jars each Fall And their work seemed almost endless, so they hardly noticed how things changed To wake up one day and find their boys lives were being rearranged
The boys left behind their household chores for college and a job And as the little home grew still, the quiet days just seemed so odd It seemed like only yesterday when Snickels pancakes filled each plate Now looking out they watched as now the empty field fill up with flakes
But in their sudden loneliness God spoke His promise true That through the night however long He'd make each sunrise new And on the pathway that we walk He keeps close onto the end And through every year that passes He will be our faithful friend
Luke 2:7 ESV And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
My recollections from milking our cow, named Blossom have given me a unique perspective of the “little Lord Jesus asleep in the hay”. It is usually quiet in the barn at night, but on that one special evening the silence was interrupted by a mother’s groans and a child’s cry. Our dear Lord humbly came, allowing His tiny arms and legs to be wrapped in swaddling clothes and His small head found its rest on a rough pile of hay in the ciw’s feeding trough. I hope my memories may bring the echo of this song back to your heart as you listen to our singing.
“Be near me Lord Jesus I ask Thee to stay. Close by me forever and love me I pray.”
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” Lamentations 3:22-24 ESV
I love singing “Great is Thy Faithfulness”, when I sense the peace and contentment of God’s care at Thanksgiving, Yet, both the writer of Lamentations as well as Thomas Chisolm, the hymn writer, were going through difficulties and trials when they wrote these words. They remind us that if rejoicing in God’s faithfulness, has to wait for everything be going right, then we would be an ungrateful people much of the time. But today’s verse and the hymn, “Great is Thy Faithfulness”, draw their power from the triumph of God’s grace when everything is going wrong. While composing these lyrics, Thomas Chisolm suffered from such ill health that he was forced to leave the pastoral ministry, and he wrote the lyrics as a poem, reflecting his trust in God in spite of his problems. Later, he sent his friend William Runyan, the poem and Runyan when on to write the melody we sing today. In the Bible, the prophet Jeremiah tells us of God’s great faithfulness and love after his nation had been conquered, Jerusalem lay in ruins, and Solomon’s temple had been robbed of its treasures. With nothing left to show for the centuries of Israel’s glory, power and success, Jeremiah finds the steadfast love and mercy of God are an unshakeable hope that is new every morning. So, whatever you are facing this Thanksgiving, allow God to gently remind you that His mercies never fail, they are new every morning, because His faithfulness and love will never come to an end!
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