Friday, March 7, 2014

Scripture Memorization Week Four {Lamentations 3:22-23}


Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,   for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning;  great is your faithfulness.
As I mentioned in my last post, it’s just been Bear and I recently, as we’ve found that the Husby has a new work schedule for the time being {hopefully getting back with us sooner than later}. Needless to say, we’ve been all out of whack around here. I stopped working out {oops}, stopped finding a craft and corresponding Bible verse to teach Bear, let him watch movies all the time, we’ve been back and forth between visiting Dad, visiting my parents, and being here at the apartment. I don’t cook much, laundry has piled up, my daily devotional is now scattered to a couple days a week, I have harbored anger against my husband for being gone, and I just feel all over the place.  I’ve felt like a zombie going in and out of routines, driving place to place, and the monotony of it all has my mind clouded and foggy. This has all resulted in my feeling tired, like a bad mom, a bad wife, and a bad Christian. This morning I dropped Bear off at Mother’s Day out, came home, started laundry, and started praying. I prayed that God would give my mind rest, that He would allow me to be still, and show me what He needs me to read today. In other words, I needed help.  I came across Lamentations 3:22-23, which to me seems quite perfect, honestly.

If you are familiar with Lamentations, you know that it’s a book composed of five poetic laments {corresponding to it’s five chapters} over the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon. In Chapter 3 though, we see a change. The author {believed to be Jeremiah}, who has been mocked by his own people, shunned by the Lord at a time, has this to say:
“Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulnesss.”
He had not lost hope that His God is a God of compassion, mercy, and faithfulness. What a beautiful illustration of how out complete turmoil and chaos comes compassion from the Lord. By the grace of God, this crazy busy and mundane lifestyle will not consume me. The Lord has compassion for me that never fails. The word compassion literally means to be moved in the heart out of love for another. Meaning that my God is moved in His heart when he thinks about me. Me! That in and of itself is encouragement enough to keep going. To revel in His love and compassion for me. That he loves and cares about me that much. It brings me to tears knowing that we have a God who loves us so much that He will never turn his back on us, regardless of any efforts on our part to turn our backs on Him. It brings me to tears knowing that amidst all of the mundane tasks of life-getting caught up in the nitty-gritty of motherhood that no one ever tells you about {feeling trapped and lonely} and cleaning up, driving from here to there, my blatant disregard for all of the blessings He has put into my life- every morning brings with it a day to receive God’s love and start fresh.
I encourage you to accept that God loves you deeply, and that His compassion for you never fails. You are constantly on His heart.

I encourage you to not go through your days, having a cloudy mind, forgetting that each day is a day to start anew by God’s faithfulness to you, his child.

Let that drive you. Let that fact drive you to be compassionate to others because your God gives you compassion. Let it drive you to find the grace in each of your commonplace chores, and to seek His beauty throughout your every day.


*picture found here