Sometimes i wonder if we make enough of a big deal about celebrating, memorializing and otherwise recording when God does something remarkable in our lives.
I’m a huge fan of Christians sharing stories of God’s grace, mercy and provision with each other to build ourselves up.
But that got me to thinking about how many stories of God’s great work in my life I can still remember to actually share.
Not many was the answer. And not with the kind of vivid detail that they deserve to be remembered.
And I’ve only been a Christian 5 1/2 years.
When I was giving this
two part radio interview about my own journey of faith recently, I was astonished, as if taken by surprise, by the number of providences that i could point to in my own life. (And you can hear me in the interview gloss over them for the sake of narrative efficiency.)
And then I was shocked, as if ashamed, by how little I could accurately recall.
Back in the day, I had briefly considered writing a book about those providences. It was going to be called “The Greatest Fish Story Ever Told.”
I even felt convicted about it for a time.
But i dismissed it when I concluded that the story wouldn’t sound quite as extraordinary to anyone but me.
Now i’m realizing that memorials, markers, ebenezers, the proofs of God’s work in our lives, are as much for our benefit.
Because our faith is weak, and we need to remember.
Because Satan and our own frail flesh wants to keep telling us that God doesn’t really care as much as we think he does. And sometimes we wonder if we are to be pitied because we are really imagining it all.
I have bits of journaling. A few answered prayers in half-used prayer journals. Notebooks of half-written poems. Some special emails saved to disk during my quasi-cyber-courtship of my wife.
I’ve got lots of scraps, but nothing to bring it all together. None of it is in a form from which I can easily draw spiritual strength.
What a waste.
I’m sure I’m not the only one …
How do you help yourself remember God’s grace to you?
Can you think of a better way?
Filed under: ruminations
WOW! that rocked my world! Love your writing!
thanks Jason … you’re influencing big time right now.
great article… sometimes I think we loose sight of how much God has done in our lives. A journal is a great way to look back and see but you are correct, how do we put it all together to see the big picture.
Scott: Journaling is definitely something I wish i could consistently do. I’m wondering whether our video culture is going to change that any?
Not really feeling great about pointing it out, but I am not hearing alot of gratefulness hear. I would start with finding at least 1 thing I could be grateful for before I laid my head down each night.
Make it a game and get to 3, 5, whatever. Once gratefullness becomes more of a daily pattern, I believe you will see what God is doing for you every minute.
Just my thought.
Of course we can never be grateful enough. … but i challenge you to listen to those interviews without hearing that come through … Thinking about one thing to be grateful every night is great. I’m wondering about using http://memiary.com for that.
I think John might have missed the point of this entry, but a pattern of gratefulness is very important.
You have no trouble recognizing God’s work in your life. You’re just looking for a way to compile these milestones in order to build up a “look-what-God-has-done-for-me” portfolio, right?
Paul’s thirteen letters in the New Testament serve as proof of God’s provision in his life. He told his story with such passion and detail. He was so hyper-focused on sharing with others the work of God in his life that he probably worked really hard to rid himself of the distractions that could’ve easily stole his attention and memories.
I struggle to recall everything God has done for me as well. You’re right, God is definitely robbed when I don’t recall those times and tell others about it.
Maybe we should spend some time in prison like Paul so we can write it all down with little distraction. lol
Thanks Chris. totally right … i clearly see everything that’s been part of God’s amazing plan … just think it’s helpful to have it at hand … bit like the power of memorized scripture compared to researching it …
Scripture tells us that man can never thank God enough, and that man tends to forget all the good. See Exodus. It is ungratefulness galore, and i myself am guilty of it. It is easy to let the bad blot out the good, because the bad often has such a profound affect on us. However, this is what many Israelites did after coming out of Egypt. We know through scripture how God feels about that.
We need to focus more on the good that God allows in our lives each day, and not look at the bad as a curse, for God knows how to raise us up.
Once we learn to focus on Him no matter the circumstances we will remember all the blessings, as we will not be dragged down by the “bad” which causes us to forget the blessings.
preach it sister!