Throughout Every Generation...

I had a couple of great conversations with our two daughters yesterday.  After texting back and forth with our older daughter in North Carolina, she called me on my cell and we spoke for about an hour.  I put the call on the speakerphone so that my wife could participate in the conversation as well.  Immediately following that conversation, I bundled up my wife for a walk and was about to go out the door when the home phone rang.  Well, low and behold, it was our youngest daughter calling from Oklahoma!

My heart was warmed and my personal joy took a leap when I tapped the end button following our talk.  As I sat back in my chair at the kitchen table and contemplated the two conversations, I thought about how our kid’s current lives are the first and best fruit of Piper’s and my marriage.

This morning as I studied from Psalm 100:5, I nodded my head in agreement to my thoughts at the end of the calls with our two girls.  This concluding verse of Psalm 100 tells us that: “The Lord is good.  His mercy endures forever.  His faithfulness endures throughout all generations.” (God’s Word ©)  It is very apparent to my wife and I that the Lord’s faithfulness is being carried on into the lives of our children!

Both of our daughters have been praying about and seeking changes in their employment.  While one has been looking to grow within her field of interest, the other has been endeavoring to enter into a different and more fulfilling career path.  It has thrilled me to no end when they talk about their seeking the Lord as their initial point of contact.  To hear their excitement over the things of God is a most rewarding gift for me!

Both of them were brimming over with excitement and praises as opportunities seemed to suddenly open up for both of them.  Our oldest has already started her new promising position, while our youngest is interviewing next week for what could turn out to be a nice promotion with the potential of a bright future.

As JoAnna and I talked, I was thoroughly blessed as she told me of her love for the Word of God, for her renewed fire for their ministry calling, and of fulfilling the various dreams that have been on her heart for years.  I almost came to tears as she explained how some of her favorite times when growing up, were those spent alone with her Mom sharing life, scriptures and dreams together.  All of our children have told of how it was their Mom that put the deep love of God’s Word and trust in His faithfulness into their hearts.  Another special moment came when JoAnna thanked me for the loving, respectful and caring relationship that Piper and I always lived before our kids.  She confided to me, that she had told her husband that it was the same kind of relationship that she wants them to have.

Those two conversations yesterday afternoon perfectly demonstrated God’s Word as stated in Psalm 100:5!  He is so good to us, and as we seek Him and trust in Him, His loving kindness, mercy and faithfulness will continue to all the future generations whom we have touched.  It is also comforting to know that our efforts to follow after God and His directions for our lives are being rewarded as we look into the lives of our kids.

When my wife and I finally made it out for our walk yesterday, I mentally reviewed the conversations with our girls.  After being quiet for a while I finally told my wife with a heartfelt expression, that I am so thankful that we are not held accountable to man’s standards but only to Gods.  Not everyone in our extended families always agreed with some of the paths we have followed and attempted to get us to follow their suggestions which did not necessarily agree with what we believed to be God’s standards for our lives.  But once we knew that we knew God’s plans, we did our best to stay on His path and not deviate, no matter how strong the opposing pressure.

Now as the years have passed and our kids are off on their own, living their own lives with their spouses and families, I am glad that we stuck to our guns!  As Piper and I stopped at the lake and marveled at the colors that were reflecting from the setting sun, I had a fleeting sense of our heavenly Father putting His arms around the two of us and saying, “You done good kids!”

It was like the perfect ending to a great Thanksgiving Day.  At that moment I had the realization that not only were my wife and I and our kids thankful to God for all of His blessings and faithfulness to us over the years, but that He was also thankful for our love, trust and obedience to Him…  I bet He thinks the same thing about you as well!

Have a good Thanksgiving Weekend.  Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting today?”

 

PS:  Don't Forget!  Our Christmas 2013 Advent Calendar starts Monday...