93 Years of Faithfulness

I recently got to spend a little bit of time with my great-grandmother. She's 93 years old, she still lives on her own, and she's very active in her community of friends, as well as in her church. She spends her days reading on her kindle, playing games that help to keep her mind sharp, and swimming. She's impressive.

My entire life my great-grandma has been one of the most encouraging people I have ever known. To give you an example, she's going deaf - she can't hear much of anything, but she still asks me to play guitar for her every time I see her. She has since I started playing as a little kid. 

We talked for a while that day about her and her life, and I filled her in on some of what I'm doing in the coming year. Towards the end of our time together she said something I keep reflecting on, so I thought I should share:

"I can look back over 93 years, through marriage, raising children, jobs, all of life and I can say that I haven't always been faithful. But God has always been faithful."

93 years of God's faithfulness. 93 years of good and bad. 93 years of joy and sorrow. 93 years of gain and of loss. 93 years of raising children. 93 years of walking with Jesus.

My great grandmother speaks often about her daily devotions. She spent time talking with me about the importance of asking God to fill you daily. She talked about getting up in the morning and praying everyday.

Her words hold weight to me not only because she's my great-grandma, but because she has incredible perspective. There are not many people I know who have the same perspective. There are not many people I know who can look back on over 9 decades and say confidently "God was there."

I pray that when I'm in my 90's I can give the same kind of perspective. I pray I can look back and know that even though I wasn't always faithful, God was.

The advice of my great-grandmother was simple: Make Jesus your first priority and ask Him to fill you daily.