As I enjoyed my morning coffee, my playlist was playing "Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father..."

Five months ago, I might have smiled and moved on. Today, that old hymn causes me to be grateful because we're living proof that sometimes the most beautiful truths are also the most necessary ones.

When your world gets turned upside down, you discover what you really believe about God's faithfulness - not just in theory, but in the daily grind of uncertainty.

The Man Who Needed Morning Mercies

"Great Is Thy Faithfulness" was written by Thomas Chisholm in 1923. He wasn't a famous preacher or renowned theologian - he was a man who understood what it meant to need God's help every single day.

He had been a Methodist minister, but poor health forced him to leave the ministry. He spent most of his life working in insurance, dealing with chronic illness, and struggling financially.

The words he wrote have comforted millions of people facing their own uncertain seasons.

He didn't write from a place of having it all figured out. He wrote from a place of needing God's faithfulness to be real, not just theoretical.

The Scripture That Sparked a Song

The hymn came from Lamentations 3:22-23, one of the most beautiful passages in the Bible: "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

Think about the context - Lamentations was written during one of Israel's darkest times. Jerusalem had been destroyed, people were in exile, everything familiar was gone. In the middle of that devastation, comes this declaration about morning mercies and faithful love.

It's not a happy, exciting or upbeat song about how everything is going to be fine. It's a deep, honest song about finding God's faithfulness in the middle of really hard circumstances.

Morning by Morning, New Mercies I See

"Morning by morning, new mercies I see" used to sound like pretty poetry. Now it sounds like our survival strategy.

Because when you face hard times, whatever they may be - when you've spent everything you had to chase a dream that seemed to disappear overnight, when you've experienced the unimaginable loss of a loved one, when you're not sure how you're going to make it through the week - you need new mercies every single day.

Not just once-in-a-while mercies. Not just Sunday morning mercies. Daily, reliable, show-up-again-tomorrow mercies.

All I Have Needed, Thy Hand Hath Provided

This line used to make me uncomfortable. ALL I have needed? What about the miscarriages? What about the job that fell through? What about being estranged from family members? What about the financial stress? What about the daughter who died as an infant? What about the uncertainty that keeps me awake at night?

But I'm learning there's a difference between what we need and what we want. Between provision and preferences. Between God's faithfulness and our expectations of what that faithfulness should look like.

We needed our family to stay together through the stress - it has. We needed to discover what we're really made of - we're finding out.

Not always what we wanted, but always what we needed.

The Faithfulness I'm Learning to See

In the unexpected opportunities - freelance work that appeared just when the bank account hit scary numbers.

In the boys' resilience - watching them adapt and grow in ways that amaze me.

In our marriage - discovering that pressure can create diamonds, not just cracks.

In the community - people who've shown up in ways we never expected.

In the daily strength - waking up each morning able to face another day of uncertainty.

In the growing faith - not the easy kind, but the kind that's been tested and proven real.

When Circumstances Don't Feel Faithful

I love this hymn because it doesn't promise that circumstances will always be good. As someone who really doesn't like hype, I appreciate this song. It promises that God will be faithful through whatever circumstances come.

Thomas Chisholm wrote it while dealing with chronic illness and financial struggles. The Israelites first heard about morning mercies while in exile. We're singing it while experiencing the longest stint of unemployment we've ever seen.

God's faithfulness isn't about making life easy. It's about being present in life as it actually is - messy, uncertain, sometimes scary, but never abandoned.

The Promise That Keeps Us Going

"Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me."

Not "Great is thy faithfulness to people in general" or "Great is thy faithfulness when things go well" but "Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto ME."

Personal. Specific. Individual. In my situation, with my struggles, for my family, in our story.

A Prayer That Became Our Reality

Tonight, a friend prayed with me before we hung up. In the prayer, she said something like "Please help them share their struggles to help others that may be in this position." Those words really touched my heart, and I hope someday, somehow, God uses this experience of ours to help others hold onto hope.

Five months of discovering what "morning by morning new mercies I see" actually means when you're living by prayer. Five months of our marriage getting stronger under pressure.

This old hymn that keeps proving itself true. We keep finding what we need for each day. Not always what we want, but always what we need. Not always the way we think or hope it will work out either.

A Song for Uncertain Seasons

Maybe you're in a season right now where you need new mercies every morning. Where you're not sure how things are going to work out, but you're hoping God's faithfulness is more reliable than your circumstances.

Maybe you're discovering the difference between what you want and what you need. Between easy answers and sustaining grace. Between having it all figured out and having enough for today.

If so, this old hymn is for you. Not because it promises everything will be easy, but because it promises you won't face it alone.

Morning Mercies Are Enough

I don't know how our Nashville adventure ends. I don't know when the next job will come or what it will look like. I don't know if we'll stay here long-term or end up somewhere completely different.

But I know that tomorrow morning, there will be new mercies waiting. Not because I've earned them or because I have it all figured out, but because that's who God is.

That's what faithfulness looks like - not the absence of problems, but the presence of grace. Not the promise that life will be easy, but the assurance that we don't have to face it alone.

And honestly, on the hardest days, that's enough. More than enough.

What does God's faithfulness look like in your current season? How have you experienced "morning by morning" mercy in your own uncertain times? I'd love to hear how this hymn speaks to your story.