Yesterday, Today, and Forever

Hi everyone! So glad to be back home and writing you all again! :) This weekend I went to St. Louis for a campus visit at Covenant Theological Seminary. During one of my interviews, the Admissions Director, asked me how I have coped with hurts in the past. I told her that the only thing that ever gets me through the most difficult times is knowing that God is always there and He never changes. I just wanted to share this with you today, because I feel it is so easy to forget this Truth when the hard times come.

Genesis 31:3 – “…and I will be with you.”
God says this to Jacob after telling him to move to his relative’s land. Just as He was with Jacob when he was alive, God is also with us in every circumstance we face in life.

2 Timothy 2:13 – “…if we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself.”
How great is it that even when we turn our backs on the Lord, He never moves a step away from us?! I heard a really great analogy yesterday (I think from a sermon by Louie Giglio) about a man and a woman. While they were dating, they would drive around in the guy’s truck and he would have one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the back of the girl’s seat so she could rest her head on his shoulder. Through the years, the woman in the relationship began to move further away from the man (emotionally and literally, in the truck). Even so, the man never moved from his spot. Louie compared this to how we relate to God. There are times in our faith when we will turn away from God through our disobedience, but God never moves away from us. He is always there waiting for us to come back. I can’t imagine a greater love than this! :)

James 1:17 – “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”  another recollection of how God remains the same

I was reminded of another great Truth last night while I was listening to Louie Giglio. He talked about how we often go to God, crying for answers (wisdom, guidance, etc.) as a last resort. After discussing this with my mom, she reminded me that I had written on this for a devotional a few weeks ago and admitted to doing this with God. As I continue to work on this - and ask for your prayers, grace, and patience with me  - I challenge this group to do this as well: Continue to go to God in the good times and bad times, during your mundane activities and exciting activities, and for big decisions as well as “trivial” decisions. (God sees no decision of ours as trivial!)

James 4:8 – “Draw near to the Lord, and He will draw near to you.”

Isaiah 40:28-31 (New King James Version)
28 Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the LORD,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
31 But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.”

Hebrews 13:8 – “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” I love this verse!! It ties into today’s song perfectly!!

Let us rejoice in the knowledge that the Lord is always here for us and that His love for us is never shaken! :)

With love and prayers,
Shannon

“Yesterday, Today, and Forever” by Vicky Beeching
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8zHJhPalLY&feature=related

Other Bible references: Matthew 28:20; Numbers 23:19; Psalm 48:14