New every morning

I woke up this morning with this song in my head:

The steadfast love of the Lord never changes
His mercies never come to an end
They are new every morning
New every morning
Great is Thy faithfulness, O Lord
Great is Thy faithfulness

I haven't sung this song since elementary school, but it was a perfect start to my day. I looked up the passage in the Bible that this song comes from, which is in Lamentations.

I don't know about you, but Lamentations is not a book of the Bible that I read on a frequent basis. So I was surprised at how much I could relate to the third chapter, which is where the words to this song are found.

The first half of chapter three is very bleak. This half of the chapter ends with Jeremiah saying, "My soul has been rejected from peace; I have forgotten happiness. So I say, 'My strength has perished, and so has my hope from the Lord.'" (verses 17-18)

Yikes. Those are some strong words.

Jeremiah (at least I'm assuming this is Jeremiah, because the title of this chapter is "Jeremiah Shares Israel's Affliction") must have walked away for a little bit, gathered a new perspective, and then come back to pen the second half of the chapter, because it has a whole different tone and is titled "Hope of Relief in God's Mercy."

Starting in verse 21, he says, "This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The Lord's lovingkindnesses never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'Therefore I have hope in Him.' The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him."

It is comforting to see such despair in the Bible, because it reminds me that it's ok to be mad at God. It's ok to be down sometimes. It's ok to have a nervous breakdown and yell at God for a little bit.

(But it does give you a sore throat the next day. Just FYI.)

It is even more comforting to see the words of despair, expressed in the midst of raw human emotion, followed up by words of encouragement.

And don't you just love word "lovingkindnesses"? It's a tongue-twister, but it just sounds so, um, loving. And kind. Like God is going to shower me with hugs and chocolate (without the calories, of course) and bubble baths and all kinds of fun stuff.

(Do I sound like I've just stepped out a CareBear's movie or something??)

Anyway, I still don't know how everything will turn out, but I do know it is in God's hands. The latest word on our house is that we might not be able to close on it this week, which would just plain STINK, but I have to trust that if the closing is delayed, there is some reason why we aren't supposed to move this weekend.

A good thing about today is that my laundry is done. We all have clean clothes and clean underwear, and hopefully the next round of laundry will be done in my new house.

Where I'll also have a dishwasher.

(Have I mentioned how excited I am about that?)

I'll also have an attached garage.

And central air.

And my own master bathroom.

And a much bigger pantry.

And an ice maker in my fridge, with an ice and water dispenser in the door.

Yeah, everything will turn out just fine, and three months from now I'll look back and think, "What was I so worried about?"

Ok, I might not say that, but I do know that I will look back and say, "God has been faithful to me!"