:)

I felt the need to re-read this post this morning, so I thought I'd re-share it.  :)  It's from a post I wrote in August titled "He is Faithful".

In times of pain, He loves me. 

In times of joy, He loves me. 

In moments of fear, He loves me. 

In seasons of grief, He loves me. 

In times of celebration & excitement, He loves me. 

In the times of happiness when life is good & I barely acknowledge Him at all, He loves me. 

When I mess up, He loves me. 

When I do well, He loves me. 

When I fall down, He loves me. 

When I lose a friend to cancer and I cry & ask WHY, He loves me. 

Worse--when a friend loses their child to cancer & I ask again, WHY, He loves me.

Worse yet -- when more than one friend loses their child to cancer & I ask WHY, He still loves me.

When I stand in church with my arms outstretched in worship, He loves me. 

When my children give me reason to scream, He loves me. 

When my children give me a reason to CHEER, He loves me.

His love for me is not conditional.  It is not bound by my feelings on that day or my circumstances at that moment.  He loved me when He formed the earth.  He loved me when He created man.  He loved me when He walked on the earth.  He loved me when He died for me.  He loved me when He ascended to Heaven.  He loved me when my mother was born.  He loves me now, He loved me then, He loved me before I was even formed in my mother's womb.  His love is truely EVERLASTING, constant, eternal.

He is faithful to me when I am faithless.  He is faithful to me when I ask Him "WHY".  He is faithful to me when I need Him, and faithful to me when I don't think I need Him.  He is faithful.  He doesn't sway, He doesn't blow with the breeze.  He is faithful to me when I screw up.  He is faithful to me when I am laughing.  He is faithful to me when I cry.  He is God, He is EVERLASTING.

When I am sick, He is God.  When my child is hurting, He is God.  When I ache & mourn, He is God.  When family members die, He is God.  When a child is born, He is God.  When I lay down at night to rest and when I rise in the morning, He is God.  When I honor Him and when I don't, He is God.

He is the beginning and the end, the first and the last.  The everlasting Father, the Holy, righteous, blameless, pure spotless sacrifice for MY blunders...for MY faults...for MY sins.

Hallelujah!  Praise the Lord!  He is FAITHFUL.

(partial lyrics to the song I am talking about here are below--I included the parts that really slap me in the face & throw me across the room to recognize how wild I am about Jesus--and maybe part of the worship experience is the actual music itself, so if you haven't heard this song, you ought to!)

Everlasting God Lyrics
Artist(Band):Chris Tomlin

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord

Our God, You reign forever
Our hope, our Strong Deliverer

Chorus:  You are the everlasting God
The everlasting God
You do not faint
You won't grow weary
You're the defender of the weak
You comfort those in need
You lift us up on wings like eagles