Never Forget
The
title of this blog posting, “Never Forget” in itself is hilarious to me. If you
know anything about me, you know that I not only have the name of a woman born
in the 1920s, but I also have the memory of one, too. Sincerely, I do. As much
as I try to remember, I forget things all the time.
Case
in point: At one point, I downloaded an app on my phone that is supposed to help
enhance your memory through the playing of strategic games. Only I forgot to
play the games for a while. And then, once my phone went through a software
download (or something) and I had to put the app back on my phone, I forgot the
name of the memory app. #gofigure
Now,
before you go casting stones or try giving me helpful hints to increasing
memory, I only tell you all of that to tell you this: I’ve been thinking about
it lately, and my mind/memory is a lot like our experiences as Christians. We
tend to forget TONS about what God has done for us in the past, and we
especially fail to remember Who God is when certain circumstances tend to head
our way, am I right?
The Bible likens us to sheep, often. Last time I checked, sheep aren’t exactly known
for their memory. (I googled it, just in case you were wondering .... dolphins
are the animal that is most known for its memory capabilities.)
I
said all of that to say this:
“So many times in life, we
allow circumstances to creep in and filter how we see God. We wonder, we doubt,
we ask why. BUT instead of allowing circumstances to "redefine" how
we perceive God and question what we know to be true of Him, we need to allow
our relationship with God to redefine how we perceive our circumstances and
what we know to be true of them.
I had a college professor once say, ‘Everything will be alright
in the end ... If it's not alright, it's not yet the end.’
Someone needs to be
reminded today that God is good. He is loving, and He is kind. He works all
things together for our good and for His ultimate glory. There is nothing in
our lives He cannot revive or redeem or recycle for His purposes. Allow your
relationship with Him and your experiential knowledge of how very good He is to
filter how you see your current circumstances, not the other way around.”
-----
There are things, situations, and circumstances in all of our lives that are
indeed connected. They relate to one another, and they affect one another in
ways we may not recognize on the surface. They have this sneaky little way of
leaving us different when we come out of them than when we first started out or
before we first experienced them.
In
this past year alone, God has brought all of us into and out of a variety of
circumstances. All of which have changed us, in one way or another.
Whether
it’s been big or small, we’ve all had our fair share of victories and defeats this
year.
For
me, specifically, this year has been characterized by both victories and
defeats. “Mountaintops” and “valleys,” if you will.
On
the personal side of things, if you remember, in October, I got engaged.
Mountaintop.
In
November, Jeff my fiancé deployed to Afghanistan. Valley.
In
December, I got to see him for 4 days at Christmas (mountain top) with the idea
that I wouldn’t get to see him again until December 22, 2014 (valley).
In
mid-January, we were told that he was maybe getting to come home in May instead of
December (mountain top).
And since then, I’ve just been waiting it out (valley)
and counting down the days until I get to see him again!!!(mountain top)
And
that’s just one small sliver of one area of my life, but you get the idea…
Looking
back over my life this year alone has caused me to be grateful for all God has
done and all He is going to do.
If
you’re anything like me and you begin to look at the pattern of mountaintops
and the valleys in your life long enough, and you will soon find that it
mirrors the path of a heartbeat on a medical screen. Up, down, up down, repeat.
In other words, the mountains and valleys in our lives equal LIFE. They
culminate to show us our purpose in life and the God of purpose working in our
lives. Though the mountain-valley pattern doesn’t always seem fun, it’s always
preferable over a flat-lining.
All
of that to say this, I would have completely lost it this year had I not
remembered that EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED and ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR
GOOD.
Again,
Romans 8:28 states, “We know that all things work together for good to those
that love God and to those that are called according to His purposes.”
In
order to test if all things are going to work out for good in your life, ask
yourself these questions (which I’m basing on the actual wording of the verse,
Romans 8:28):
#1.
Do you love God?
#2.
Are you called according to His purposes?
If
you answered “yes” to both of those questions, you can rest assured that all
things in your life, the victories and defeats, the mountaintops and the
valleys alike, are connected. You
are a holistic being. All things in your life affect one another. And God is
working all of those things together for good in your life.
The
book of Psalm also has many things to say about God working on our behalf. One
of my favorites is Psalm 25:15 (ESV), which reads as follows: “My eyes are ever toward the LORD, for he will pluck my
feet out of the net.” One of the reasons this is one of my favorites is because
it shifts our focus on God, and does not leave us staring the problems at hand.
Whether
you feel like you’re in a place of victory, a place of defeat, or just plain
stuck in the middle of “the net,” remember the place you are right now is just
one stop on the journey. God’s not done. He is actively in the process of
doing.
I’m
going to close with this 2 ½ minute song by Ellie Holcomb, which ties
everything together and reminds us that no matter where we are in life, we
should not forget Who God is and the love of God that He lavishly throws our
way, every day, admist our circumstances and in the midst of it all. The song
is actually called “Don’t Forget His Love.”
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