never once.

never once did we ever walk alone,
never once did You leave us on our own.
You are faithful, God, You are faithful.

a year ago, i stumbled into a church one sunday afternoon and heard this song for the first time. then, i was in a million pieces. heart broken. wrecked. confused. lost. on a never-stopping emotional rollercoaster with ever-evolving turns and swoops and loops. and i hate coasters. it was during the singing of this very song then that i realized i had found exactly what i was looking for.

but i also recognized, maybe wholly for the first time, the truth of those lyrics.

never once... did i ever walk alone.

i always think of that footprints poem: how you can be walking with the Lord so tangibly at one moment, and then when crisis arises, feel so absolutely alone and abandoned. yet once you're out of that crisis season, you realize how much more present and tangible God was then, as if He was carrying you instead.

even though the first time i heard this song, i was in shambles, and fully in my season of "crisis", i knew i needed to hang on to the truth that, even when i can't feel it or don't think it, He is still with me. [thank you Jesus!]

this sunday, we sang that song again. but this time i saw the full circle. how from that first encounter, just a year ago, to where i am now, because of that church, which is because of that song, i am a new person. a new creation. and how appropriate, that my other song love from that particular church is a song written by the worship leader than, saying,

He is making all things new,
You are making all things new.

it's easy to forget where we came from as we continue our journey through new, different, varying seasons. but i'm so thankful for those goosebumpy moments, like the one this weekend, when i am reminded of all that He has done for me. all that He does. all He did before.

the amount of healing that has gone on because of that church - i attribute much of it to that community, oh boy! - is... astounding. how rad is it to enter into a place randomly and find yourself there months later but renewed, and redeemed, and all kinds of other "re-" words.

what a good, faithful God we serve.

He is making all things new,
You are making all things new.

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