There is a beautiful old hymn called “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”.  I am sure you know it.

My favorite part is the refrain, which goes like this:

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see:
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

The history of the song is this.  The author, Thomas Chisholm, was born in a log cabin in Kentucky.  Without the benefit of high school or other training, he began his career as a teacher at the age of sixteen, in the same country schoolhouse where he received his elementary training.  When he was twenty-one, he became the associate editor of his hometown weekly newspaper, The Franklin Favorite. Six years later he accepted Christ as his personal Savior during a revival meeting.

Chisholm wrote many poems and happened to send the words “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” to William Runyan, who was with Moody Institute. It was later published into a tune that became a favorite of students and faculty alike.  It was slow to catch on in the US churches until Rev. Billy Graham began to include it in his crusades.

In a letter dated 1941, Mr. Chisholm wrote; “My income has not been large at any time due to impaired health in the earlier years which has followed me until now, although I must not fail to record the unfailing faithfulness of a covenant-keeping God, for which I am filled with astonishing gratefulness.”

Friends, I  love the fact that the song reminds us that God gives us new mercies every morning.  Those mercies can be easy to miss, however, with the dullness of winter and the chaos of modern life.  But we look beyond those things because God’s compassion is indeed new every morning, so says Lamentations, chapter 3.  Since each day comes to us refreshed and anew, so does our gratitude renew itself daily.  Each day we are provided with what we need, and God is ever faithful to us.

I encourage all of us to take time to remember that we have new blessings and mercies every single morning.  While there are times that we go through dark valleys, nevertheless, God’s mercies still remain.  Praise God!

In Christ’s Love,

Pastor Linda

Pastor Linda’s Cell #330-806-5409