Out With the Old; In With the New – Not!

If you are joining me here today from my devotion,”>Faithfulness and a Coffee Table” at Proverbs 31, thanks so much for stopping in!

In my devotion I talked about having reminders in our home of God’s faithfulness:
“The importance of the things in our past that remind us of God’s faithfulness. My things: The dishes that remind me of my grandparent’s marriage – one that was full of true unconditional love that lasted a life time. The marred chairs around my table that were for our “new” home when my now eighteen year-old son was crawling. The quilt in my bedroom, handmade to keep my mother warm in the wagon on those below freezing Minnesota mornings as a child. Piles of scrapbooks that document the life that Greg and I have built with our children. All of these testify that though life is hard, God is good.”

I thought it might be fun to show them to you! The first picture is Mom’s coffee table. A whole lot of praying has gone on here!

First, here is a goblet that belonged to Dick and Mary Jane DeVeny. Dick and Mary Jane were my husband’s maternal grandparents. They were amazing people. They loved God and used their gifts to serve and honor Him. After raising their family in Iowa, they moved away from their loved ones to Ashland, Ohio to serve in printing for the Brethern Church. After many years, Mary Jane developed Alzheimer’s. By the time I became a part of the family, Mary Jane had been living with this harsh disease for at least 4 years. I was so honored to watch Grandpa care for his precious wife for many more years with a tenderness that I had never witnessed before. He was truly Jesus with skin on. I was so proud to call him my grandpa!

Next are my kitchen chairs.

These chairs were purchased by Greg and I to fill the kitchen of our brand new home in Davenport, Iowa way back in 1992. Our eighteen year old son was then eighteen months old. He would hold onto the chairs as he learned to cruise around the table. After a couple more moves, they were given a coat of black paint a few years ago, which you can see is rubbing off. My dear friend, Carol, even painted beautiful olive leaves on them. I just love these chairs no matter how rickety they are! (At dinner I have to keep reminding my kids not to lean back on them! I’m afraid they’ll break.) These chairs remind me of God’s faithfulness to help us to raise our child and his faithfulness to draw them to Himself.

This quilt that belonged to my mother as a child has long since seen better days.
In fact, I think it was handed down to Greg and I to protect our furniture in one of our moves. Then one day, my mother shared with me how they used to put hot bricks in the quilt when riding the wagon on the freezing Minnesota mornings. It reminds me of God’s faithfulness to draw my mom to Himself when she was young and keep pursuing her until she came to love Him later in life.

My scrapbooks.

They completely fill the inside of my coffee table. They tell stories of weddings, births, and vacations. They document my family’s journey in this life. I know one day, the kids will all be gone creating their own scrapbooks with their own kids, but I will still have the memories of the beautiful life God has so blessed me with for the time I have been here.

Like most of you, there are times and days when my life doesn’t feel so blessed. Heartache with those we love tries to wipe away all of the good that has gone before. It is at these times that this plaque given to me by my mother reminds me of what I am to do with words from the book of Isaiah:

What reminders do you have in your home? We’d love to hear what triggers memories of God’s faithfulness to you! Just click on “comments” below!

Lynn

8 Comments

  1. I love all of your memorabilia of God's faithfulness, Lynn! Esp. that plaque, "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength." Thanks for sharing!

    Love, Andrea

  2. I can't sit here at work and really think of any material things Ihave that remind me of his faithfulness. I think when I was younger I didn't realize how much I would cherish these things today. I see God's faithfullness as I read my Bible daily, as I look back in my Journal and rad things that were such worries at the time that neer even came to pass! And I read also of last September when my walk with the Lord really began to change me inside and out! I am constantly reminded in the Biblethat says, "for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

    So I will put my mustard grain of faith in the Lord and watch HIM move mountains. This he does daily, we just have to take the time to look around us and see it.

    Thanks you for the devotional. I need to be reminded! ~Kelly~

  3. My reflection~Right now I would have to say that I am a "new thing girl", for He has made all things new. I am so grateful that I can be "new" in the eyes of Christ. I have been divorced now for about four years and I am raising my three beautiful children on my own. When my husband decided to leave us, I went back to school to become a nurse, a dream I always had. It has been a rough journey along the way. We had to move out of our home and during that process I got rid of all of our things. I really wanted to be out with the old and have a fresh, clean start. As of today, I am a new nurse and buying my first home for my children and me. We have a new place to build memories and traditions, to honor God with. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying we need material possessions to honor God but we can honor him with our hearts and our thanksgiving. We can honor him in our new home by welcoming and serving others and sharing his grace. At the same time, I will always remember the old in that I will never forget where I have come from. I have my old journals and personal experiences that I carry with me. It is where God has brought me from that is my testimony which I can share with others.

  4. I love that green goblet! It reminds me of one my parents have.

    In the past few years, my mom learned how to knit. She joined her church's knitting group and mostly made hats for premies and prayer shawls. I have a prayer shawl that she knit, and I think often of her faithfulness to God. She wanted her children to know how much she prayed for us. She died last November, and I miss her very much!

    And so, of course, that prayer shawl is also a reminder of God's faithfulness, and that because Jesus died on the cross for us, death is not final, only our passage to our real home.

    Thank you for your devotion today. Remembering God's faithfulness was exactly what I needed!

  5. Anonymous says:

    Thank you for your ministry. Your message today was the strength I needed to get me through the day. My husband is currently on hospice care and is in a state of rapid decline. I sat with him early this morning trying to remind him of a good life he's led….good father, husband, grandpa, son, brother etc. All the reminders of his life came flooding through..his accomplishments as a professional, his passion for water skiing, sports enthusiast, and good citizen. So tonight when I lay my head on my pillow, my alter of thanks will be for this man and being part of his life. The Lord has truly blessed us in too many ways to list here but all have been miraculous indeed. Reminders are good for the soul. Again, thank you for reminding me to give our Lord and Father thanks for the many blessings over the years. He is with us always until the end of times.

    God bless,

  6. Anonymous says:

    Dear Lynn
    Thanks for showing your scrapbooks and photo albums. Until you opened the door of your coffee table, everything was too neat! Now I feel a closer bond. Your devotion on God's faithfulness and physical reminders of it comes at an opportune time as we are getting rid of some of my parents furniture, furniture I grew up with. I may have another think about 'getting rid'.
    Thanks.

  7. I love hearing from each one of you. Whether we have tangible reminders or we remind ourselves, God is so faithful! Keeping this in front of our minds reminds us that He has been good and He will be good tomorrow!
    Have a blessed weekend…off to rugby and a choir concert!
    Lynn

  8. I have some old dishes and water goblets of my grandmother. I remember when we would go to her house on sundays. She would use these dishes and water goblets. Just great times. When my sister and I were younger. We were the only grandchildren. What love there was. Before my grandma died I told her I wanted those. A few years after her passing, I got those from my aunt. They sit in my hutch to see. I had so many great memories of her.

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