All I Have Needed…

I turned the page on another year this past Friday.

The years seem to be moving faster and faster as they climb higher. I find myself far more keenly aware of the passing of time today, than ever before that I recall in my life.

We spent my birthday together, my husband and I, exploring South Dakota. Neither of us had ever been, though it has been on our travel list for years.

It was nothing short of wonderful. Breathtaking. Stunning.

We visited many places – Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, Wind Cave, Jewel Cave, and Badlands National Park. I thoroughly enjoyed each place – the history, the geography, the uniqueness.

But it is Badlands National Park that gripped my soul.

From one of the highest overlooks in the park, I could see forever. The expansive sky above me stretched far into the distance. Being able to see the sky always settles me – being able to see the sky for miles and miles helps me to feel small, in a good way. I can breathe. I can exhale a prayer of pain and grief, while breathing in a prayer of gratitude for God’s sovereignty and faithfulness.

I’m so glad our God created the sky. I truly believe it is a foretaste – a sample – of the brilliance we will see when God calls us home. A new earth. A new heaven. A new sky. All of which glorify God.

We decided to enter the park as evening fell, to catch the sunlight. We had read that sunsets are stunning in the badlands, because the fading light and shadows cast bring out the colors in the rock formations.

It is true. They do. O, my soul – what a sunset.

While my guy was taking photos (he just upgraded to a new lens), I found a quiet ledge to sit on, with my feet dangling over the vast crevices and canyons. As I sat there, I had the very keen sense that the sun was setting on one year, and I was beginning yet another. The year closed with such mixed feelings – as with most years, there more moments of tremendous joy….and equally tremendous grief. Successes to celebrate, and failures to mourn. Days in which I sensed God’s presence, and others where I wondered “Where are you, God?” as my old, familiar frienamy Doubt occasionally returns to tug at my mind and soul.

Sitting there in the last warming rays of the sun, I watched the shadows lengthen and the insects begin their nightly chorus. Then, in a split second where the very last curvature of the sun met the peak of the mountain in front of me, it was alit as with a scorching blazing fire – and then it was gone.

And the sky took on a deep, soothing afterglow, as if it was experiencing the now….and the not yet.

The sun – and the moon, and the stars – in their courses above, joined with all nature in manifold witness.

And I, too, acknowledged in that moment, yet again – yet again – yet again – that great is His faithfulness.

His faithfulness will be great throughout the next 365 days – come what may. He does not change. The unknown lies before each of us like this tremendous book of days. Our lives read the pages, and while we may think we know the story’s plot, like any truly good book that we cannot put down, we do not. We do not know what comes next, with each turning page. The triumphs, the pain, the fear, the joy, the exciting, and the mundane.

The days in which we will sense God’s presence strongly.

And the days in which we will not.

But while we do not know the plot, we do know this: the story of God’s mercy, grace and faithfulness.

And as sure as the sun set on my birthday in a blaze of wonder and fire, so shall God’s mercies be new every morning, as we journey through this place that is not our home.

All I have needed, His hand has provided.

Great is His Faithfulness, unto me.

-Thomas O. Chisholm