God’s Love Reaches Beyond the Tip of the Iceberg Blogpost #51

*This article first appeared on The Round Farmhouse Ministries Facebook page and Instagram accounts on Wednesday, February 9, 2023. If you haven’t checked out their resources, you will love the hope each day’s writings bring to our daily lives. The leader of this ministry has asked me to become a monthly contributing writer, and this is my first monthly contribution. I hope you enjoy seeing a new perspective on icebergs!

Have you found yourself nearing the end of a challenging season, and you can finally see all of the pieces coming together? What once felt like isolated hardships, you begin to see were intentional places of growth that the Lord put in your path to allow you to authentically experience His faithful love. 

Our family is experiencing this as I recover from back surgery. An MRI helped us determine the source of the pain. The steroids, pain medications, muscle relaxers helped me survive until surgery was possible. Then, the Lord brought the right neurosurgeon into our lives to heal my spine. We needed each step of the process to fully understand how to help me get better and regain strength.

This reminds me of how my daughter Mackenzie saw pieces of ice coming together in her glass. As she set her glass of ice water down on a coaster on the coffee table, she excitedly shared, “Mom, check out this ice! Look at the way it is shaping and molding around the glass. The shape reminds me of an iceberg.” 

For many of us, when we think of icebergs, we may think of them in a negative context, because we are reminded of the Titanic shipwreck. However, what if we thought of icebergs in the context of seeing God’s faithful love that extends to thousands of generations? We only see a small portion of His love when we look at our individual experiences. What if we took a step back to discover how our lives are a part of the bigger picture of God redeeming us? This shift in perspective allows us to understand how the love we experience from Him is just the tip of the iceberg of His faithful love. 

After my daughter shared her observation, the Holy Spirit reminded me of 1 Chronicles 16:34 (ESV): “Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever!” David wrote these words to lead the Israelites in worshiping the God who provided for them in every season. 

This celebration in 1 Chronicles commemorated the first time the ark of the covenant was brought to Jerusalem during David’s reign. The ark was a symbol of God’s loving presence with His people, containing the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, Aaron’s rod, and a jar of manna – all reminders of God’s faithfulness. David thanked God for His faithful love throughout his and every preceding generation since Abraham. This was just the tip of the iceberg of God’s loving provisions for them throughout the centuries.

Friend, I wonder if together we could take a step back from our current celebrations to see what’s beyond our small piece of the iceberg? To see:

• the enormity of God’s love.
• how His faithfulness connects us with other believers across time and space. 

From one generation to the next, we can count on God’s faithful love to never stop. His love has and will always endure.

Author bio: Kallie Dace searches for joy within everyday moments with her husband, their four children, and extended family members who live nearby. You will often find her getting up before the sun rises, so she can spend time with the Lord before everyone else wakes up. It’s the only quiet time at her house. She loves to share coffee with extra creamer while enjoying reflective conversations with other women as they notice and celebrate God’s faithfulness. She is a collector of books and cookbooks and often quotes authors as if she knows them personally. One of her biggest areas of weakness is constantly wanting to buy new books when she already has a large stack of books ready to read. 

You can find her on her blog at www.kalliedace.com, on Facebook @Kallie Dace, Instagram @kallie.dace, and on Pinterest @kalliedace