Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional "Belonging" for Thursday, 23 October 2014 - Read Lamentations 3:22-33

Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional "Belonging" for Thursday, 23 October 2014 - Read Lamentations 3:22-24 God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
    his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
    How great your faithfulness!
I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).
    He’s all I’ve got left.
25-27 God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits,
    to the woman who diligently seeks.
It’s a good thing to quietly hope,
    quietly hope for help from God.
It’s a good thing when you’re young
    to stick it out through the hard times.
28-30 When life is heavy and hard to take,
    go off by yourself. Enter the silence.
Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions:
    Wait for hope to appear.
Don’t run from trouble. Take it full-face.
    The “worst” is never the worst.
31-33 Why? Because the Master won’t ever
    walk out and fail to return.
If he works severely, he also works tenderly.
    His stockpiles of loyal love are immense.
He takes no pleasure in making life hard,
    in throwing roadblocks in the way:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.(Lamentations 3:22-23 (NRSV))
Last year my husband and I sold or gave away half of our possessions and moved from the area where we had lived all our lives to a retirement center hundreds of miles away. Even though we knew the Holy Spirit was present through the whole process, the move was still a traumatic and exhausting ordeal. We had become strangers in a foreign land.
Last Sunday, however, God’s faithfulness enveloped me in joy — I realized we were no longer displaced!Through the year our apprehension of new surroundings has been eclipsed by a sense of belonging among loving neighbors and a vibrant church eager to have new hands and feet to help serve in the name of Jesus Christ. The endless sea of unfamiliar faces is now generously dotted with identifiable smiles of recognition. Concerns about old age and diminished health are met with encouragement and new coping skills.
Today, filled with thanksgiving and courage and God’s help, we are considering passing on what we have been given. We intend to answer yes to the call to invite two college-aged foreign exchange students into our lives to help them make the journey from being strangers to belonging. Each day we anticipate a new sign of God’s faithfulness.
The Author: Cindy Love (Texas)
Thought for the Day: Each day brings new signs of God’s faithfulness.
Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for your mercies, blessings, and faithfulness. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Prayer focus: New retirees
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