Remember

What sort of things do you remember? Are they the happy times? Do you remember only the hard times that made you cry? If you've been divorced, do you remember only what they did to wrong you? When you remember your childhood, do you remember only the times when you felt alone and crying? So often people will tell you, "Don't think about that. Just forget the past." Many (I) may at times quote a scripture vs to encourage this... Philippians 3:13, "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead..." We do this, but is this what God is really asking of us? Can we really find healing by forgetting?


In Nehemiah 9, the people were called to remember. They mourned for how they had turned from God. They cried, dressed in sackcloth, called to remember their pain, then things change. The Priests said, “Stand up and praise the Lord your God, for He lives from everlasting to everlasting! ...You (God) saw the misery...You have a glorious reputation that has never been forgotten... in your great mercy you did not abandon them to die in the wilderness... in their time of trouble they cried to you, and you heard them from heaven. In your great mercy, you sent them liberators who rescued them from their enemies." We are called to remember. We are called to remember how He never leaves us... we leave Him. Time and time again the people left and did other things, but each time they called out to Him in distress He gladly came to their rescue.


Our memories are there to help us live better than we did before. So often the problem is that instead of learning from our mistakes, we just keep making the same choices over and over again. I know of people who have been in a bad marriage. They get a divorce and then end up in the exact same situation again, just a different partner. How is this? Same mistake, just has a different name.

When I was taken out of my previous marriage (I wasn't even smart enough to rescue myself, my family had to drag me out). After one month went by, I found myself at brief Intensive counseling Stone Gate (at the time it was located in Colorado.) During my stay there, I saw myself as a victim and blamed everything on my ex-husband. During my time there, I was forced to look at the truth within myself and see that I was not a victim, but had actually been making my own bed. I was forced to focus on me and on God alone. I had nothing else, just the two of us.... alone!


Sometimes our healing comes in the darkest times when we are hurting the most. This is when we are broken enough to accept whatever is coming. If it is death, we say come and get me. If it is pain we turn over and take it. We have no fight left and we give up. With God, there is never an ending, but only a beautiful beginning. With God, He says, "Now that you have finally turned this over to me, Watch! I will Amaze you."


Our memories are a gift. They are given to us so that we can live a better life. They are given to us so that we can make better choices than we did yesterday. They are given to us so that we can enjoy today! We are not called to live in sackcloth mourning our past, but to live in joy!


There is an "old Greek story of Charon who was the boatman who took the dead across the River Styx. He reminded a poor woman that she had the right to drink of the Waters of Lethe that would make her forget everything about the life she was leaving. She was keen to drink, saying, 'I will forget how I have suffered.' Charon told her, 'Remember too that you will forget how you rejoiced.' She said, 'I will forget my failures,' and he said, 'And your victories as well.' She went on, 'I'll forget how I was hated' and he reminded her, 'You'll forget you were loved.' She thought it over and decided she wouldn't drink." (Dragon Slayer, by Jim McGuiggan)


We have not been cursed by this life. Each day is a blessing. Today is our only chance at this day. It is a gift and it is up to us to make this one a good one. I cannot mourn over my yesterday, but I can use it by learning from it and not making the same choice for my today.

2 Chronicles 20, Jehoshaphat prays to God. In his prayer he is reminded that He hears our needs and the He is in control of history... When it says, He is in control of history- it is only in hindsight that we can see He was with us while... If we keep our eyes upon Him while, when we look back we can see Him during. He is in control of history... Remember