our daily bread
Dexu Xia
Faith-Building Memories
Great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:23
As I stepped into the music-filled sanctuary, I looked around at the crowd that had gathered for a New Year’s Eve party. Joy lifted my heart with hope, as I recalled the prayers of the previous year. Our congregation had collectively grieved over wayward children, deaths of loved ones, job losses, and broken relationships. But we’d also experienced God’s grace as we recalled changed hearts and healed personal connections. We’d celebrated victories, weddings, graduations, and baptisms into God’s family. We’d welcomed children born, adopted, or dedicated to the Lord, and more—so much more.
Reflecting over the history of trials our church family faced, much like Jeremiah remembered his “affliction” and his “wandering” (Lam. 3:19), I believed that “because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail” (v. 22). As the prophet reassured himself of God’s past faithfulness, his words comforted me: “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him” (v. 25).
Great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:23
That night, each person in our congregation represented a tangible expression of God’s life-transforming love. Whatever we’d face in the years to come, as members of the interdependent body of Christ, we could rely on the Lord. And as we continue to seek Him and support one another, we can, as did Jeremiah, find our hope being ratified by faith-building memories of God’s unchanging character and dependability.
Lord, thank You for using our past to assure us our hope remains secure in Your everlasting faithfulness.
As we look ahead to the new year, let’s remember that God has always been and always will be faithful.
上帝的信实
祢的信实多么广大！-耶利米哀歌3章23节，新译本
当我踏进充满音乐的礼拜堂时，我环顾了在年终感恩会上聚集的人群。当我回想起这一年来的祷告时，心中就充满喜乐和盼望。我们教会一直为着任性的孩子、挚爱的人离世、失业和破裂的关系而忧伤祷告。但我们也经历了上帝的恩典，看到生命被改变，以及人际关系得到修复。我们为着祷告蒙应允而感恩，也一同欢庆婚礼、毕业礼和进入上帝家庭的洗礼。我们欢迎新生儿、被领养的孩童，或献身给上帝的孩子们，还有许多美好的事物。
想到我们教会中许多家庭所经历的考验，就像耶利米回想起他所受的“困苦窘迫”（耶利米哀歌3章19节）。但我相信：“我们不至消灭，是出于耶和华诸般的慈爱，是因祂的怜悯不至断绝”（22节）。正如耶利米因上帝过去的信实而得着确据，他的话语也安慰了我：“凡等候耶和华、心里寻求祂的，耶和华必施恩给他。”（25节）
那天晚上，每一位弟兄姐妹都代表了上帝改变人心的爱。无论未来的年日我们将面对什么挑战，我们在基督里彼此互为肢体，能一起倚靠主基督。当我们继续寻求祂并彼此扶持的时候，我们也可以像耶利米一样，回想过去上帝信实的带领，带着信心和盼望迎向未来！
主啊，谢谢祢用我们过去的经历，
显明祢永远信实，使我们知道盼望不会落空。
过去、现在，直到永远，上帝都信实可靠