Always faithful

The ABC’s of knowing God better: the letter F

 

     
Thy steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, thy faithfulness to the clouds. – Psalm 36:5 (RSV)
      
If we are faithless [do not believe and are untrue to Him], He remains true (faithful to His Word and His righteous character), for He cannot deny Himself. – 2 Timothy 2:13 (Amp)
      
      
One of my favorite shows when I was growing up was The Lone Ranger. I remember how Tonto often called him “Kimo sabe.” I never knew what “Kimo sabe” meant until the name popped up while I was writing The Heart Remembers. Curious, I looked it up online.
      
“Kimo sabe,” I learned, means “faithful friend.”
      
How perfect, I thought. My novel is about love and faithfulness.
      
Faithfulness.
      
Someone who is faithful always does what he says he will do, no matter what. Someone who is faithful remains loyal in what she thinks, says, and does.
      
The motto for the U.S. Marine Corps is Semper Fidelis – Always faithful. Faithful in all ways.
      
My husband is a former Marine. Semper Fi describes him perfectly. He is faithful, loyal and true to the core. I’m a blessed woman.
      
Twice blessed. Not only is my husband faithful, but my God is also.
      
Life can get pretty frightening at times, the future a big question mark. Things haven’t panned out the way we’d planned. What next?
      
During the taping of our radio interview last week, WMUG 105.1 FM (Indiana, PA) radio personality Lillian O. Clemons told me she leaves jigsaw puzzle pieces around everywhere – in the rooms of her house, in her car – to remind her when life doesn’t make sense that she sees only a piece of the puzzle. God alone sees the entire picture.
      
“I love that analogy,” I told her. “I can’t see the future. I don’t know what tomorrow holds. But when I look back on my life, I can see how God was working to prepare me for where I am now, what I’m facing today. I know I can trust God with my future because He’s always had my back in the past.”
      
Even when I didn’t know Him, God knew me, had a plan and purpose for me (see Psalm 138:8; Psalm 139). When I thought I was the one in control, when I ignored God and went my own way, did my own thing, God gave me the freedom to wander.
      
A verse in a song I wrote describes this period of my life:

Now the path I chose was wide; all my hopes and dreams were there. 

I was having so much fun chasing rainbows in the air. 

But in time they disappeared, and all that remained 
Were empty hopes and broken dreams and a heart full of pain.
      
That’s when I came to Peniel (see the story of Jacob in Genesis 28 and 32), where faithful God was waiting for unfaithful me. That’s where I wrestled, surrendered, and found forgiveness, hope, and unconditional love. That’s where I experienced a true heart change. Where I realized “self control” was dangerous. What I needed for a fulfilled life was “God control.”

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God,” Corrie ten Boom, author of The Hiding Place, once said.
      
I began trusting God with the next step. And the next one.
      
And I haven’t ever, even for a second, regretted it.

Thank you, Father God, that You are faithful even when I’m not. Thank you for Your mercies that are new every morning. Amen.

Special-Tea: Read Lamentations 3:22, 23