Loyalty

I just thought the first picture was funny. You all know my "fondness" for cats. This statement seems all too true. The second picture is just cute. Below, I will talk about loyalty, but please do not think for one second that I am likening Father to a dog (and certainly NOT to a cat!).


I learned today that in Psalm 136, the word for "love" or "lovingkindness" that "endures forever" is actually better translated as loyalty. Father is always loyal, no matter what. Loyalty is different from love. Loyalty implies He is there through suffering, while we tend to think of love as keeping us from suffering. Now, don't get me wrong, He is love too, but I think we often have a skewed view of what His love actually is. That's for another post that I probably will never write. This post, however, is on loyalty, so I will continue ;)My last post was on how much I hate goodbyes. And I do. But you know, He is loyal. He has been so loyal to me the past week and a half especially, and hearing about His loyalty today amongst the body was so affirming. I knew exactly what they were talking about...from experience--very recent experience. He was so loyal to me through my goodbyes to my family that I only really had one cry fest with Him one night a few days before I actually said goodbye to my family. When it came to my last day at home and the day I left, He filled me with an unexplainable joy that kind of consumed the sadness. I can't describe it, and I don't understand it, but I am so grateful! What a blessing...a very unexpected blessing it was! Yes, I was sad to leave my family for 2 years, and yes it hurt me deeply to see them hurt, but He filled me with His joy, knowing that He has such an amazing purpose for each of us through these 2 years that I can't even begin to ask for or imagine!! I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am exactly where He wants me to be and that He is going to do exactly what He wants in and through me. But not until recently did I really come to the place of being both excited and confident that He has incredible plans for my family through me going overseas as well. So, He is loyal and will continue to be so, not only in my life, but in my family's lives, in my people groups' lives, in all of creation. Praise Him!