Great is Your Faithfulness

Ok the family is back into its routine. Mom and Dad are back to work, Makayla is living the kindergarten life and Daniel is back on his nap schedule. Tomorrow we will all go to our church for worship and see our friends there. Makayla will be in her regular children’s ministry and Daniel will be in a familiar nursery. Last week we were out of town at my brother’s house on Castle Rock Lake for our annual family reunion. This year my sister Jean could not make the trip and she was greatly missed. Despite the absentees we had a great time. My family arrived late Friday night. It was just my eldest brother and his wife there. On Saturday my other brother, his wife and in-laws, my eldest sister, then later her eldest daughter, boyfriend and his kids showed up.  On Sunday my third sister came with her family. We had a great time Saturday. My wife and I took the kids paddling on the lake in kayaks. Makayla caught her first fish that evening right off the peer. Her secret is a “Barbie” fishing pole, night crawlers and it doesn’t hurt fishing on my brother’s home turf with him knowing exactly where to put the line. We put Daniel to bed and when it got good and dark the rest of us went outside by the fire. We were reminiscing about being a kid in our family. That conversation turned real dark real quick. So the subject changed and we all talked about being juvenile delinquents. In the mist of all this I started looking at the stars. The sky was clear and I was thinking about God who created all things great and small. It was midnight and Makayla had eaten too many s’mores and we had to carry her to bed.

Sunday morning the alarm on my phone is rang at 6am. I shut off the alarm and for the first Sunday in a long time I was debating if we were going to church or not. I knew the voice in my head telling me it’s ok, your on vacation go back to bed, was not God. Then the Holy Spirit started bringing things to my recollection. First he reminded me that it was God’s Faithfulness that brought me out from my backsliding. My wife and I were looking for a church. Then one day my daughter had woken up from a dream. She told my wife, “Mommy I saw Jesus coming in the clouds.” This caught me by surprise because although we prayed with her and read to her from the children’s bible she had no way of knowing this piece of scripture. This dream had to come from God. A few weeks later God really started to work on my heart. He was letting me know he has a purpose for my life and I needed to live the life he has set before me and to stop running away from his will. Later he showed me a vision of what he had done for me. I was there at Mount Calvary and it was me hammer in one hand and a spike in the other driving the nail through where his palm met his wrist. For me, he showed me that he did it for me. I felt my hard heart ripped from my chest and replaced with a heart of flesh filled with love. That day I cried out to God and I promised if he made a way for me to go to church, with his help, I will be faithful to go with my family. A week later I had Sunday mornings off from work and that day my family made plans to go to Des Plaines Bible Church. To our surprise it was now “The Bridge” and we felt the love of God as soon as we walked through the doors.

By 7am everyone was showered or bathed and we were heading to Mauston for Church. God is good. We had time to pick up some breakfast, feed the kids, and get to the church. Along the way we thought we made a wrong turn and were going to turn around. What do you know? The driveway we were going to turn around in was the Church. We had ten minutes to spare. I liked this church, it wasn’t “The Bridge” but the worship was genuine, the message was convicting and the church was alive with the spirit of Christ. I did take with me one pearl of wisdom from the service. The Pastor had a great illustration I’m going to hold onto for a while. He said,

“When a vessel is full and it is upset whatever the vessel is full of will pour out. You have a jug full of liquid and when you tip it you see water pour out you know that it was full of water. You have a wet sponge and when you squeeze it water comes out you know it was wet with water. Now ask yourself the last time you were upset, tipped, or squeezed what came out? Was it blessings or curses? Was it good or evil? When you were tipped what poured out? Did you forgive the person who tipped you? Did you bless them? Did you pray for them? Or did you get angry, curse them out or push them back? When you are tipped and the things of God pour out you show you are filled with the Holy Spirit but if things that are not of God pour out…?”

After hearing this I thought of the words of Jesus in Matthew 15:18 “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.”

We went back to my brother’s after service and everyone was up and moving around and by this time my sister had arrived with her husband and two boys. I was in a great mood; I was ready to hear all the jokes and all the teasing about going to church today. It didn’t happen and I was surprised. I think now, compared to all my saved life, I wasn’t hiding my light under a basket in front of my family. I wasn’t just going along to get along. Jesus is the first love of my life and for the first time I don’t think my family is questioning it anymore. I remember seeing what my sister Jean has gone through when she professed her faith and I guess she may have paved the way for me. Instead of reticule I received questions. I was asked genuine questions about the church I went to, the service I was at, and other things. The door closed quickly when I went from answering question to witnessing but I’m happy with baby steps. They still see me as the little brother. I’ll keep praying for the salvation of my family and friends.

I know God is faithful.