Audience of One

The other night Clarence was determined that he was supposed to be in a program of some type and I was supposed to be helping him to get there so that he could participate. I started asking questions. Where is it? Who is going to be there? What kind of program is it? What are we supposed to do? He didn't know the answer to any of those questions but he was determined that he needed to get up from his chair and stand. Once he was up though, he wouldn’t move. He didn't know where to go or what to do. So, now what?

At that point I made the suggestion that we begin the program and sing, so the two of us stood side by side and sang several great songs of the faith. “Blessed Assurance”, “The Old Rugged Cross”, “Stand up for Jesus”, “Holy, Holy, Holy” and others.

Clarence sang with his whole heart, thinking all the time that we were participating in some type of program, and actually I guess we were in a program. It was for an audience of one, our Lord Jesus Christ, our Mighty God. We hope that He enjoyed it as much as we did.

God Is Faithful

Clarence fell one morning not too long ago and when we were weary and about to give up, a friend came by to help us get him back on his feet. Later on, while dressing, Clarence mentioned a favorite passage, Lamentations 3:22-23. “Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

The scripture started us singing together and the words of “Great is Thy Faithfulness” filled the room. It was a wonderful reminder for us, and all day long we remembered that God is with us even when things are tough and we might be feeling alone.

In the evening we started listening to a Gaither event via YouTube and towards the end found ourselves once more singing “Great is Thy Faithfulness”, this time with a large group of true musicians. What a great way to start and end our day, remembering how good God is and how faithful He is.

We weren’t done though. That evening as we were reading “The Daily Bread” I found myself fighting off tears as we once again encountered words of God’s faithfulness. We read Psalm 107:23-32 and in vs 29 it says “He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed”. The Daily Bread reading included this quote: “God understands His children will sometimes struggle to feel hopeful when life feels
like a storm. We need reminders of His faithfulness, especially when the horizon looks dark and tumultuous.” * Clarence and I both needed to hear those words.

We try to read The Daily Bread every night but sometimes miss, especially if it has been a particularly tough day. Occasionally we’ll go back to read one that we missed but generally we will just keep reading where we are supposed to be. Imagine my surprise when, upon closing the app, I discovered that the reading we had just done was from five days prior. Apparently God was saving it for this special day which was filled with reminders of His faithfulness. Reminders that would draw us closer to Him, help us to lean on Him, and to trust Him more.

* Xochitl Dixon / Our Daily Bread May 31st 2022