Happy late blog day!! My apologies for the late post, but I was out of town on Monday, so today is this week's blog day! I’m really excited to get to share today's post with ya’ll because I got so much encouragement from last week's post, so this is almost an extension of that. 

Last week I told y'all how, for the past few years, I have asked the Lord to show me a word or phrase to hold onto throughout the year that reminds me of His character and what He has called me to do. Last year my word was abide, but I thought I would share this year's word. 

In most of my time walking with Jesus, it's been hard for me to stay consistent in trusting God and knowing His love for me stays the same and that His plan for me is good. So, at the beginning of the year, while I was at Passion conference, the Lord put the word "steadfast" on my heart. And honestly, what a beautiful and perfect word for this year in the midst of so much change. Now, the word steadfast in the Bible has two different contexts. First, the Lord calls US to be steadfast in our faith. Colossians 1:23 says, “If indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.” This verse so clearly calls us to have a firm foundation in Christ rather than our ever-changing worldly circumstances. This is something I truly have struggled with a lot. Having a firm foundation in Jesus can be really hard when life changes and gets difficult, but God NEVER changes, even when your circumstances do. One way I really love to remember this is to look back in the Bible (specifically with Abraham), and in my own life at how God has kept every promise that He has made and will continue to do so. With this, one of the calls we have as Christians is to tell others about the Gospel. For me, this is pretty easy to do whenever life is going great, and I have so much going on in the moment to praise God for, but I tend to be a lot more hesitant to tell others about Jesus when my circumstances aren't great. But God's call for us is not to share the Gospel and praise His name only when Life is good, but in ALL situations because He never changes. For God is good all the time, and all the time God is good

In addition to our call to be steadfast in our faith, God also tells us to remember His steadfast love for us. Lamentations 3:22-23 says, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Chapter 3 of Lamentations is filled with cries of pain and despair during the fall of Jerusalem, written by (probably) the prophet Jeremiah. He continuously cries out to God and asks for Him to see Jerusalem's pain and suffering, but in the middle of this, Jeremiah reminds himself of God’s unfailing and unconditional steadfast love for His people. In your times of struggle and pain, God does not abandon you; He is always in the fire with you! It’s easy to feel alone in hardship, but God will never leave you. He loves you so, so much and will always redeem your suffering! So, instead of feeling alone in hardship, know that your suffering should redirect your eyes to Jesus and show you your deep need for Him. 

The Lord is good and unchanging in ALL circumstances, so my encouragement is to praise Him and tell people about the Gospel in every season of life, place your hope in the Lord and not your worldly situations, and remember His great love for you that NEVER changes!