The Trail of His Faithfulness

"When you follow the trail of God's faithfulness in your life...I know he will give you the courage you need for whatever is going to happen next."  ~ Robin Jones Gunn

 

A few months ago I wrote about wanting to create a room in my house someday…a place that I would call “The Gallery of His Goodness” so I could walk through a tangible reminder of God’s goodness to me.    

But, you know, it’s not just His goodness that’s worth remembering.  The little snippets of His grace are overwhelming reminders of His love…but to take it one step deeper, maybe I need to go back through my life, connect the dots, and recognize the “Trail of His Faithfulness.” 

The pictures of God’s goodness in my “gallery” document more than just one moment.  They document a lifetime of His faithfulness to me – even when I’m not paying attention (which is most of the time).  I can look back on broken dreams or closed doors with more perspective now.  I’m glad I didn’t get the whitewater rafting job in Colorado during college – because I wouldn’t have been able to graduate on time with my changing major.  But because I graduated on time I was able to travel to Germany and meet the girls at Black Forest Academy…some of whom were only there for one year.  I have traveled many places and met so many people…and the divine appointments and connections that God has allowed me to make are not without purpose. 

I love to think of this verse:

“From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.”  Acts 17:26

Nothing takes God by surprise.

Not even where I live or who I will run into each day.

In fact, he planned it.

Now, if I could just remember that. J 

There is such value in remembering.  I need to look back on His faithfulness – because that gives me hope in both my present and my future.  The Israelites are an example of what happens when we don’t remember.

 

“We have sinned, even as our ancestors did; we have done wrong and acted wickedly.  When our ancestors were in Egypt, they gave no thought to your miracles; they did not remember your many kindnesses, and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea.

Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, to make his mighty power known.  He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up; he led through the depths as through a desert.  He saved them from the hand of the foe; from the hand of the enemy he redeemed them.  The waters covered their adversaries; not one of them survived.

Then they believed his promises and sang his praise.

But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his plan to unfold….”  Psalm 106:6-13

 

Yikes.  Here are the Israelites’ problems:  not thinking of God’s works, not remembering His kindnesses, and rebelling against Him.  I can say that I have done all of those things.

YET – He saved them.  So they sang his praise.  BUT – they soon forgot.  They did not wait for His plan to unfold. 

What was in store for those who waited?

 

“This is what the LORD says – he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:  Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.  The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.”  Isaiah 43:16-21

 

Streams in the wasteland.

A way in the wilderness.

HOPE.

God doesn’t want us to dwell on the past.  He wants us to dwell on the One who has directed our past, who is directing our present and who will direct our future.  He is constantly doing new things.  His mercies are new every morning. 

And even if we can’t see it clearly now, one day we will see the pathways of our lives, sprinkled with pleasant and difficult “inns” along the way. 

I think they will be aptly named, “The Trails of His Faithfulness”.