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Cody shared the following hymn story from the Worship Matters blog in church this morning. I thought it was particularly meaningful as many of us do lead ordinary, simple lives as stay-at-home moms. We're not seeking great fame, nor will we probably ever achieve monumental things (although, potty training three kids feels close to monumental). Yet, God in His greatness, can use the faithfulness of simple, ordinary people to bring great glory to Himself and produce fruit that we could never imagine....Simple Faith in a Faithful God.
The story behind Great is Thy Faithfulness should encourage every Christian who thinks of their life as ordinary. There’s no tragic story (like “It Is Well” by Horatio Spafford) associated with this hymn. It’s just the fruit of a faithful man with a simple faith in a faithful God.
Thomas Chisholm, who sometimes described himself as “just an old shoe,” was born in a Kentucky log cabin in 1866. He was converted when he was 27, became a pastor at 36, but had to retire one year later due to poor health. He spent the majority of the rest of his life as a life insurance agent in New Jersey. He died in 1960 at the age of 93. During his life he wrote over 1200 poems, most of which no one will ever hear.
But back in 1923, at the “beyond his prime” age of 57, Thomas Chisholm sent a few of his poems to William Runyan at the Hope Publishing Company. One of them was Great is Thy Faithfulness, based on Lamentations 3:22-23 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Runyan was particularly moved by Great is Thy Faithfulness and sought to set it to a melody that would reflect the response of wonder and gratefulness to God’s faithfulness conveyed in the lyrics. Apparently, he succeeded.
The song quickly became a favorite at Moody Bible Institute, and later George Beverly Shea sang it at Billy Graham Crusades. Now it’s known all over the world and has been used to encourage millions of Christians to trust in a faithful God.
Pretty impressive spiritual fruit from a life insurance agent.
When Chisholm was 75, he wrote in a letter:
“My income has not been large at any time due to impaired health in the earlier years which has followed me on until now. Although I must not fail to record here the unfailing faithfulness of a covenant-keeping God and that He has given me many wonderful displays of His providing care, for which I am filled with astonishing gratefulness.”
The hymn has three verses and a chorus. Verse 1 speaks of God’s faithfulness revealed in his Word, and is adapted from James 1:17: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
Verse 2 tells us of God’s faithfulness revealed in creation. The seasons,the sun, moon, and stars all continue on their courses perfectly, orderly, quietly - guided by God’s faithful hand, without any help from us.
Verse 3 reminds us of God’s faithfulness revealed in our lives. He pardons all our sins, fills us with his peace, assures of his presence, gives us strength, hope, and blessings too numerous to count!
Whatever challenges, trials, or disappointments you might be facing right now, this hymn reminds us that God’s promises are true, that he never changes, that his compassions never fail, and that his faithfulness to us in Christ Jesus is more than good—it’s GREAT!
God doesn’t need incredibly gifted or wildly famous people to proclaim those truths from his Word.
Just faithful ones.
Thrifty Tip #49: Don't throw away those broken crayons! Save them for a fun, rainy day craft!
I found this idea from Homemade by Jill. She's pretty much the most creative, crafty gal I've never met! Her tutorial and crayons are much cooler looking than mine...but we try hard here! You'll want to check out her whole blog for more super wonderful ideas!
I love getting emails from Real Simple with great, easy meal recipes!
We tried this recipe last week. Everyone loved it! I did tweak a few things to fit our family. My changes are in green.
Rigatoni With Roasted Sausage and Broccoli
1/2 pound rigatoni (1⁄2 box) (1 box whole wheat penne pasta)
1 bunch broccoli, cut into florets (1 large head of broccoli, cut)
1 small red onion, sliced (I just had a yellow onion on hand)
3 tablespoons olive oil
kosher salt and black pepper
1 pound Italian sausage links, casings removed and meat broken into 1-inch pieces (I used hot Italian turkey sausage--less than 1/4 of the fat!)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (I would say this is completely optional)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan (1 ounce)
For the last 8 months, Cody and I have been meeting with and discipling a young couple.
A while ago, God showed them that His best plan for their lives would not be for them to live together unmarried.
So this weekend, Cody married our sweet friends!
In the past, Michaels Craft Store and I have had a love/hate relationship.
I'm not super crafty, and I'm usually not super thrilled about taking my children to stand alone specialty stores with narrow aisles and colorful tempting-to-touch merchandise.
Those things, coupled with the fact that I could invariably *never* use Michaels coupons with the items I needed to buy, made me mostly avoid the store.
However, today, I knew I needed to make the dreaded stop and buy a few special items I needed for cookie making that I couldn't seem to find anywhere else.
The coupon even applied to 80% off Halloween items! Cheap! Cheap!
Thrifty Tip #48: Check out woot! for amazing daily deals! Kids.woot! and shirt.woot! are more of their fun sites!
Woot.com is an online store and community that focuses on selling cool stuff cheap. It's one deal for one day, so you have to decide quickly and check back every day!
This is a surprise that came in the mail from Cody (via Woot!) last week:
Stuff with all your favorite pizza topping. 
I keep thinking I'll have more time to spend blogging and reading, but then these beautiful days keep coming! I'm not ready to give up the sunshine to stay inside quite yet!
Thrifty Tip #47: Check out Restaurant.com for money saving dining out gift certificates.
