Abounding in Steadfast Love and Faithfulness

Exodus 34:6-8, “The Lord passed before him (Moses) and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful andgracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ And Moses quicklybowed his head toward the earth and worshiped.”

The Lord is very good to me. This morning I am snuggled on the couch with my coffee and pancakes, my sweet girl is sleeping after we had fun playing and laughing. This morning she came after finishing her bottle next to me in bed)  crawling over, pawing at me saying, “ma ma ma ma ma” and rested her head on my chest (for the first time), she doesn’t know what she said, but I pretended she did and was overwhelmed with joy. She just cut her first tooth and is growing so much everyday. She had a rough painful weekend but is doing much better. What a perfect ending to a joyful weekend. Many times I hear people say, “my heart is full” and while I normally excuse it as a quip, today I can honestly say that my heart is full. Full of the overwhelming kindness that the Lord has lavished upon me. The grace He has lavished in salvation is reason enough to rejoice, but the Lord has so graciously lavished my life in abounding steadfast love and faithfulness. And like Moses, I am compelled to worship. There is a lot more going on in the verse than I am going to touch on, but the Lord is the same.

Thursday was Gavin and my 2nd anniversary. He was able to take 2 days off of work and my parents watched baby girl until Saturday. We went to some of our favorites that are now stroller-impossible; Sideboards (where we have spent hundreds of hours and probably moolah with Aunt Di and Ally talking about wedding plans, being new married, when the Lord would bring our babies, and the Lord’s goodness, Gavin and I had the blessing of both being on paid leave for the first 2 months of our marriage and the month before) Danville Chocolates, a delicious dinner at Bridges, a romantic evening in an AMAZING “sweet” at a local hotel, watching our wedding video, going to breakfast, getting pedicures, seeing a movie, getting a couple’s massage and relaxing at home Friday night. And this was all before the weekend started. Saturday was dear sister’s 30th birthday so the girls went to breakfast at La Boulange and then had some family time in Alamo. Gavin coached football (and was actually moved up to the Varsity offensive Line Coach and is LOVING IT)  I got Ella and Mads all to myself for a few hours and then we had family birthday dinner at mom and dad’s with delicious food, amazing caprese salad, cake and funny conversation (what would your last meal be before you were executed?). The next morning Dad spoke in One Life, Gav and I had a relaxing afternoon and our dear friends brought dinner and we laughed ate and delighted in the joy of our kids and company.

OOOKKKKK. So that wasn’t even the good part. Hopefully the pictures make a little more sense and you can depict what they are. What I hope you remember is that the Lord is good. There is a picture above of my dad leaning on a board, see it? That is a model of the tabernacle that my great grandpa built. My dad started to get emotional thinking about the overwhelming goodness of God and so did I. His grandparents had prayed for him, his salvation, family and that he would not forget the teaching of the Lord. The Lord answered nana and grandpa’s prayer to the 4th and prayerfully 5th generation and beyond. Likewise Gavin has a long heritage of pastor’s, missionaries and godly people who came before him. Nobody in either of our families is perfect, people have married in, some have left or died, all the same the Lord has placed a very distinct unbroken lineage of faith in our families. Reading a verse like the one above reminds me that we should not trifle with the Lord. He does not forget, He will visit the iniquity to the 3rd or 4th generation. He is just and good and loving and faithful to Himself and His Word. Knowing the potential of the Lord, to look at my family and see His goodness is overwhelming. It is only God’s grace that has brought us here. The Lord doesn’t choose to lavish goodness on every family and the Lord does punish some people and generations for their lack of obedience and worship. The Lord answered the faithful prayers of nana and grandpa and brought my mom into my dad’s life and even without their prayers knowing brought Matt into sister’s life and Gavin into mine. That was all God’s goodness that has been lavished. We have a family that loves each other, encourages godliness, we help one another, we like to be together, we have reason every few weeks to celebrate and laugh and rejoice together. When the struggles and hardship come we pray for each other.

The past few weeks Jon and Kent have been talking about marriage at church and it has been phenomenal and convicting. One thing Gavin and I have been talking about, or maybe it’s just Gavin listening to me ramble before it’s time to go to sleep, is the responsibility we have to raise our children in the way that they should go and it starts with our personal relationships with the Lord. Being in the word and having our own relationship with Christ. That will change our hearts and our children, that is our only hope of continuing the heritage the Lord has blessed our families with. Now is not the time to take a back seat. Now is NOT the time to assume the Lord will just call our children to Himself. It is the diligent and faithful prayers of people who loved the Lord with their whole heart.

I leave you with a few thoughts:

– Love the Lord and commit your way to Him. The Lord is faithful and abounding in love for His people. He is worthy to be praised and trusted. He WILL change your heart, guard your soul, and will guide your steps. We are all sinners in need of a savior. We just can’t be good enough or do enough good. We only need Jesus. Jesus paid the penalty by suffering on the Cross to bring us LIFE and bring us to relationship with Himself.

– Great, Godly, loving families and marriages don’t just happen.

– I love my life. When I look on facebook at weddings, families, homes, jobs, or friends there is nowhere else I would rather be. I love the story that God has written in my life and the work He has done. The people he has brought in, taken away and the places he has taken and delivered me from.

– Our new home is SUCH a blessing and a joy. We are renting a 2 story apartment in Walnut Creek and even covered in boxes was more peaceful and restful than Lafayette ever was. We love having people over, cooking, and just being here. I have cooked and baked more in the last few weeks than I have in months, it warms my heart. Let me know when you want to come over and I’ll put you on the schedule. Denise that means you 😉

Think on these things deeply. I pray that you know the Lord as your own and if you don’t take the time to search for Him in His Word, He will be found. It will cost everything, change everything, effect every relationship. Remember that He is Loving, Kind, Gracious, the Giver of all good things, He created you and already knows everything about you.

Monday is supposed to be laundry day, my plans had to change and I am thankful for the time the Lord has given me to reflect and recognize His goodness.