Dear friend,

I don't know what your early twenties was like, but for me, there were lots of learning, facing hard things, and deciding what I really want to prioritize in my life.

Everyone has different college years experiences, but I had to do some hard growing during my college years. There were times when I was making hard decisions, facing challenges, and missing family, when it seemed like everyone all around me was just having fun and living the best life ever.

It was challenging for me to be making wise financial decisions, working extra shifts, spending more time studying and writing papers when all the people around me were throwing money into the wind, not working at all, and completely skipping class every day.

One week I was struggling a little extra, a bit more discouraged, stressed, and feeling a little more alone. Out of no where my Dad sent me a message. It was just a simple photo of his bible sitting on his desk, open to Lamentations 3. I could see where he underlined, the marks he made, and the time he had poured over that passage, feasting on Scripture for his own heart.

So I went and opened my own bible and decided to read that chapter... a chapter I'd always ignored before.

"My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

"The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in Him."

The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth."

It encouraged my heart so much that week that my Dad sent it to me. It encouraged me to remember that the Lord's love doesn't ebb and flow or change with how we feel or how well life is going. It's constant. And its something I still need to call to mind and find my hope in.

It encouraged me that there are mercies new for each day: mercy for when I'm tired, mercy for when I'm discouraged, mercy for when I am at the end of my ability. It encouraged me that the Lord is good to those who wait for Him and seek Him...

It even encouraged me that hardship can make us stronger, force us to the Lord quicker, and be sanctifying for our souls.

It encouraged me that the Lord's love is "steadfast". (There are some older words that I think we should bring back into everyday speech and I think "steadfast" is one of those).

See, it encouraged me because His love isn't fleeting, or hallmark style love. It isn't only surface level or easily swayed by the trials of life. No, His love is faithful, constant. It reminds me of an anchor cast into the depths of the ocean that shall not be moved even in the most bitter storms and waves.

It's as though the Lord rushes into our lives when we surrender our lives to Him and sets His feet firmly and refuses to budge for anything.

I can wander away from it, but soon as I turn around, His love is still there. Steadfast. Faithful. Immovable. Constant.

That's a powerful kind of love. That's a kind of love that we don't understand because I think we've watered down the idea of "love" to be more about what pleases us when we want it, how we want it, and for the length of time we want.

But the steadfast love of the Lord? It never ceases. It's a commitment. It's a covenant. It's eternal. And its so so beautiful.

Because no amount of effort on my part would ever have made me turn from my self centered mindset to pickup the cross of Christ and follow Him with all my effort bent on honoring Him. And honestly....I'd never have loved Him at all of my own accord...

So He took all the effort onto Himself. He decided to carry my own sin, my own brokenness, my own stubborn foolish selfishness... and He carried it along with the punishment my sin deserved.

He nailed it to the cross and destroyed it, paid the price, and completely and utterly obliterated any human idea of what love is with the perfect demonstration of love.

His love is so steadfast that He endured torture and death for us.

And yet somehow I forget that His love is constant and reliable and I can lean on Him. Somehow my future seems too big and overwhelming for Him, my busyness and my to do list seems too much... my own fear and emotions seem too heavy....

No. He is steadfast.

Lord, teach us to love You as steadfastly as You love us.

So as I fight to call to mind the steadfast love of the Lord in my life once again, I hope you will join me and fight to call this truth to mind too.

~Isabel Grace

P.S. Print Club letters are going out tomorrow morning! Be on the lookout for your letters. New member sign ups will open again on the 1st.

As always, you can check out original paintings that are available HERE and prints that I have HERE. I also am open for commissions if you have a certain scripture or hymn you'd like painted. Just reply to this email and we can figure out how to bring your idea to life!