When I see my sons and daughters with my grandchildren, I get glimpses of their childhoods. When their children struggle with discipline or sleep patterns, I wish I could remember more of what I tried that worked or that didn’t but there are so many blanks in my memory of my early years of parenting. Perhaps this is a mercy, one of those places where God graciously erases the struggles so that what remains are the joys to be relived in old age. I might be tempted to say I’ve mentally blocked them out but that’s not true at all. I count every minute invested in the lives of the children God gave me to steward a blessing. I sincerely wish I had taken more pictures, made more videos, and recorded more stories.
Sometimes things come back to me, especially from my mom as she travels down memory lane. She has unearthed early artwork that I shared in an attempt to pare down my own collection and photo albums and framed prints that were duplicates of my own, only she wrote dates and memories on the back of each one. Things like Jacob was four when he heard God call his name. Aaron helped Papa take apart and repair his old computer this weekend. Caroline baked cookies with her cousins. The simplest of things that I was too busy to notice now provide markers from their childhood like points on a timeline.
Since our last move, I have been transferring boxes and albums of photos into digital albums using Google Photos. My children and now the grandchildren have an online album so that family pictures get shared evenly. I used to decide which album to include prints of all three in by who had the best smile in each picture. I guess it never occurred to me that I was giving their siblings ammunition for future gag gifts by placing the goofy faces in someone else’s album. The photos come up year after year in memories reminding me of the love we shared as a family and of the faithfulness of God across the generations and throughout my lifetime.
Jacob encountered God in a dream at Bethel. His head and his heart were as hard as the stone pillow that he set up as an altar. Moses met God on sacred ground in the desert when he turned aside to see a burning bush that was not consumed. Isaiah saw the Lord enthroned in the Temple in the year King Uzziah died and Samuel heard God call his name as a boy serving under Eli the priest in the tabernacle at Shiloh. Peter met the Lord face to face by the Sea of Galilee after a miraculous catch. Matthew heard Jesus call his name while in his tax collectors booth. Paul encountered the risen Christ in a blinding light on the road to Damascus. Where and when have you encountered the Lord unexpectedly or while you were actively seeking Him?
“You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.”
Jeremiah 29:13 CSB
https://bible.com/bible/1713/jer.29.13.CSB
My husband drove me to meet up with our daughter and her boys for ice cream. We had enjoyed fair weather for our visit but on our drive home, we were caught off guard by a downpour. Although it was unexpected, we agreed that we desperately needed the rain. God’s timing is always perfect, and yes, I would still say that even if we had been soaked climbing in and out of our car during our visit. I am guilty of fretting unnecessarily over things I cannot control but if I have learned one thing in my half-century, it is that God is faithful and He is indeed working all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Worry only saps my joy and my strength so I am ever learning to cast my cares on Him as they arise. As Jesus asked during His Sermon on the Mount, “Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?”
Matthew 6:27 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.6.27.NLT
“The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!”
The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him.”
Lamentations 3:22-25 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/lam.3.22-25.NLT
God surprises me regularly and I’ll be honest, as long as I have known Him and as many mountains and valleys as I have walked with Him, I should not be surprised by anything. The places where my faith has grown most have tended to be the most difficult places, the very ones you’d be tempted to try and forget. While fleeing Saul, David lived constantly on the run in caves and in enemy territory yet he wrote,
“You’ve kept track of all my wandering and my weeping.
You’ve stored my many tears in your bottle—not one will be lost.
For they are all recorded in your book of remembrance.
I trust in the Lord.
And I praise him!
I trust in the Word of God.
And I praise him!
What harm could man do to me?
With God on my side, I will not be afraid of what comes.
My heart overflows with praise to God and for his promises.
I will always trust in him.
So I’m thanking you with all my heart, with gratitude for all you’ve done.
I will do everything I’ve promised you, Lord.
For you have saved my soul from death and my feet from stumbling so that I can walk before the Lord bathed in his life-giving light.”
Psalms 56:8, 10-13 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/psa.56.8-13.TPT
I learned as a teenager to thank the Lord in advance for what He is doing and I have found it to be a profitable practice. Not only am I reminded that He is always working but that He has good plans for me and good works prepared in advance for me to do.
“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for.
Keep on seeking, and you will find.
Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives.
Everyone who seeks, finds.
And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead?
Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion?
Of course not!
So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”
Luke 11:9-13 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/luk.11.9-13.NLT
Valley of Worship ~Seph Schleuter https://youtu.be/SY0nnula4Wg?is=d9VAPt8hMYDkFCmq
Don’t Let Me Forget ~ Ben Fuller https://youtu.be/lm8E7Xw83T4?is=wyvacTMbMQEL61r_
A Fitting Reply 