Category: Faithfulness

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Grateful for Grandeur

I have lived in Arizona most of my life; I was born and raised here. I grew up in the desert and we took family vacations in the mountains. I lived in the small town, at that time, of Yuma. We didn’t even have a McDonald’s or a Burger King, shocking. I worked and went to college in metro Phoenix before I was married.

Dave and I moved back to Phoenix within the first year of our marriage. We started a business here. We closed a business during the gasoline shortage of 1974. We found jobs and started our family here. All three of our children were born here. We moved away for twenty-five years and returned when we retired in 2014. We’re home!

In the last year, I have realized how little of the State I have actually discovered. I learned that Arizona is the sixth largest state in land mass. I was surprised by that and I am in awe of the diversity of terrain. We have arid desert, farm land, larger metropolitan cities, ski resorts, pasturelands and wastelands. One of the things that I enjoy the most is the tremendous rock formations; there are huge, jagged rocky crags and also the smooth, round boulders that look like misplaced loaves of bread. We plan to spend a great deal of time traveling the backroads of Arizona and learning more about my home.

Do I sound like a travel log? I don’t mean too but I truly love the grandeur that God has placed before me, here in my home state. Yesterday Dave and I took a localized road trip and drove to a couple of lakes on the far east side of the Valley of the Sun. We went to Saguaro Lake and Canyon Lake; we stopped at the little settlement of Tortilla Flats and we went to the campground at the base of the Superstition Mountains.

I had never been there! It is absolutely beautiful! We are making plans to return – I can hear the Father speak to my heart there.

“The heavens are telling of the greatness of God and the great open spaces above show the work of His hands. 2 Day to day they speak. And night to night they show much learning. 3 There is no speaking and no words where their voice is not heard. 4 Their sound has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun. 5 It is as a man soon to be married coming out of his room and as a strong man who is happy to run his race. 6 Its rising is from one end of the heavens, and it makes its way to the other end. Nothing is hidden from its heat.” Psalm 19:1-6 NLV

When I see the beauty of creation my heart is filled with gratitude for the physical glory that the Lord has placed all around us. No matter where we go, creation speaks of God’s love. The snow capped peaks of the mountains, the rolling waves of the ocean, the rich green of the farmlands and the glow of a desert sunset are a reflection of God’s creativity and imagination. He was thinking of us when He designed all of this.

“Sing a new song of praise to him; play skillfully on the harp, and sing with joy. 4 For the word of the Lord holds true, and we can trust everything he does. 5 He loves whatever is just and good; the unfailing love of the Lord fills the earth. 6 The Lord merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born. 7 He assigned the sea its boundaries and locked the oceans in vast reservoirs. 8 Let the whole world fear the Lord,  and let everyone stand in awe of him. 9 For when he spoke, the world began! It appeared at his command…We put our hope in the Lord. He is our help and our shield. 21 In him our hearts rejoice,  for we trust in his holy name. 22 Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord,  for our hope is in you alone.” Psalm 33:3-9, 20-22 NLT

I hope you will take time to read all of Psalm 33 today. The timelessness of nature is an example of the eternal power of God’s word, it was created by His word. Creation is a testimony to us of God’s faithfulness. He has left his fingerprint in creation and He uses it to draw us in to relationship with Him.

Oh yes, I am grateful for the grandeur of God’s panoramic display!

“It is wonderful to be grateful and to sing your praises,  Lord Most High! 2 It is wonderful each morning to tell about your love and at night to announce  how faithful you are.” Psalm 92:1-2 CEV

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Able

God, our heavenly Father, is able!

Able means He has the ability to do or complete the task set before Him. He is able to work on our behalf but He needs us to work with Him.

Look at a few words with “able” in them: stable, workable, solvable, understandable, lovable, peaceable, forgivable… How many more can you think of? All of these and more are a description of God’s work in our lives.

Because He is a loving Father he won’t force Himself on us and He won’t force us to take the benefits He has for us. But if we will allow Him to work in our lives we will see His ability working on our behalf.

“I pray that you will know the love of Christ. His love goes beyond anything we can understand. I pray that you will be filled with God Himself. 20 God is able to do much more than we ask or think through His power working in us. 21 May we see His shining-greatness in the church. May all people in all time honor Christ Jesus. Let it be so.” Ephesians 3:19-21 NLT

When we truly experience God’s love, His power can work within us. He is able!

“Because He Himself [in His humanity] has suffered in being tempted, He is able to help and provide immediate assistance to those who are being tempted and exposed to suffering.” Hebrews 2:18 AMP

He is able to help us immediately when we are being tempted because He was also tempted and suffered.

“Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. 25 All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen.” Jude 24-25 CEV

God is able to keep us! He is able to save us!

“But Jesus will never die, and so he will be a priest forever! 25 He is forever able to save the people he leads to God, because he always lives to speak to God for them.” Hebrews 7:24-25 CEV

Father, today I am available so that Your abilities may work in me, through me and for me!

I know YOU are able!

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A Better Promise

Keeping our focus on the Lord’s faithfulness will keep us from being discouraged and depressed. When Israel faced overwhelming threats and attacks they could confidently call on the Lord for their deliverance. They knew they had a “covenant”, a promise or contract, with Almighty God. God had promised to be their GOD and to fight for them, to stand with them, to be their protection and their source of supply. As long as they walked in obedience to God’s word all these blessings were theirs.

Remember when Moses told the Israelites that God had set before them life and death, blessing and cursing? Then Moses said choose life. It was their choice to be a nation of blessed, victorious people. David knew this when he volunteered to fight Goliath – David’s comment, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine?” Circumcision was a physical sign to the Jewish people that God had made covenant with Abraham and all of his descendants.

You and I have a covenant too. The writer of Hebrews said we have a new covenant with better promises.

“But the work that has been given to Jesus is much greater than the work that was given to those priests. In the same way, the new agreement that Jesus brought from God to his people is much greater than the old one. And the new agreement is based on better promises. 7 If there was nothing wrong with the first agreement, then there would be no need for a second agreement. 8 But God found something wrong with the people. He said, “The time is coming, says the Lord, when I will give a new agreement to the people of Israel and to the people of Judah. 9 It will not be like the agreement that I gave to their fathers. That is the agreement I gave when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt. They did not continue following the agreement I gave them, and I turned away from them, says the Lord. 10 This is the new agreement I will give the people of Israel.
I will give this agreement in the future, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write my laws on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 11 Never again will anyone have to teach their neighbors or their family to know the Lord. All people—the greatest and the least important—will know me. 12 And I will forgive the wrongs they have done, and I will not remember their sins.”
13 God called this a new agreement, so he has made the first agreement old. And anything that is old and useless is ready to disappear.” Hebrews 8:6-13

God the Father is faithful and He made this new covenant for us with Jesus. Neither one of them will fail! Their covenant for us will not fail!

“God is not a man, that He should lie. He is not a son of man, that He should be sorry for what He has said. Has He said, and will He not do it? Has He spoken, and will He not keep His Word?” Numbers 23:19

God promises will come to pass. His word is true – He is good!

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God Isn’t Out-of-Date

So many of the things we use these days have a “use by” date. It’s printed on all of our food products, medications, vaccines, batteries, yard and garden fertilizers, ink cartridges…and the list goes on and on.

I had to laugh the other day because I saw that the sour cream had such a date on it. My question is how would you know if sour cream went bad? It’s sour!

I am so thankful that the Lord and His word are never out-of-date. Some may think He is; others may think that God’s word and His teaching are archaic and no longer valid for our current generation but our God is timeless.

Yesterday I had the privilege to speak to a group of Seniors on the goodness of our God. What a joy! As I began to share some of my experiences on God’s faithfulness their faces lit up, nodding their heads in agreement for they had seen the Father prove Himself faithful to them through the generations.

I really think we should spend more time listening to our seniors. Learning from them, appreciating their wisdom and getting to hear their stories of how God has been faithful.

Yes, our Lord and our Father, the great I AM of all eternity is never out-of-date.

“I will sing of the Lord’s unfailing love forever! Young and old will hear of your faithfulness. 2 Your unfailing love will last forever.  Your faithfulness is as enduring as the heavens…5 All heaven will praise your great wonders, Lord; myriads of angels will praise you for your faithfulness.6 For who in all of heaven can compare with the Lord? What mightiest angel is anything like the Lord? 7 The highest angelic powers stand in awe of God. He is far more awesome than all who surround his throne. 8 O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies! Where is there anyone as mighty as you, O Lord? You are entirely faithful.

9 You rule the oceans. You subdue their storm-tossed waves. 10 You crushed the great sea monster. You scattered your enemies with your mighty arm. 11 The heavens are yours, and the earth is yours; everything in the world is yours—you created it all…14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. Unfailing love and truth walk before you as attendants.
15 Happy are those who hear the joyful call to worship, for they will walk in the light of your presence, Lord. 16 They rejoice all day long in your wonderful reputation. They exult in your righteousness. 17 You are their glorious strength. It pleases you to make us strong. 18 Yes, our protection comes from the Lord” Psalm 89:1-18 NLT

He is ALWAYS faithful!

All of nature reveals the faithfulness of God; the sun comes up every morning, the tide comes in each day, our heart beats without being told and our lungs breathe the oxygen that is created in miraculous wonder. The seasons change, the earth rotates and God is faithful.

Out-of-date? Never. Old fashioned? No. Timeless, eternal, everlasting…faithful to all generations!

You, LORD GOD, are always faithful!! Amen.


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God Never Sleeps

We came to the Phoenix area yesterday. Spent a few hours in the afternoon with our youngest daughter and our two small grandchildren. Then on to our oldest daughter’s where we spent the night. We’re in Phoenix because I will be speaking at a church luncheon today. What a privilege!

In the middle of all this, we are on baby watch. Our fifth grandchild can be born at any time. Last night Sam and Kristine joined us for an impromptu sleep over. About a year ago I shared a teaching on Mother’s Sleep. You know that sleep mothers have where you never fall into a deep sleep but are always listening for a cry, a call, a cough or a breath. Well, last night I was doing that again. Listening through the night to make sure Sam and Kristine had settled in and were sleeping well.

That’s how the Father is with us. Always attentive, always listening for our call. He never sleeps but is always watching over us.

“He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. 4 Indeed, he who watches over Israel  never slumbers or sleeps. 5 The Lord himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.” Psalm 121:3-5 NLT

The attentiveness that we as parents and grandparents show to our children can’t even begin to compare with the Father’s watchfulness to us.

Thank you Father that you never sleep or slumber!

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Don’t Slide Back

There seems to be a theme to this week’s blogs. A few days ago I shared about being firmly planted. Nothing beats a good solid foundation! Then yesterday I shared how the Lord wants us freed from shame. We are forgiven but things in our past can side line us if we let them. Today I want to tie the two of them together.

Ever been in that place where you’ve lost traction, no forward momentum, and you’re stuck? Me too; literally, emotionally and spiritually. Several years ago while living in Montana, Dave and I went up to cut our Christmas tree. We backed off on a side road to turn around and slid 70 yds down the mountainside. Two hours later, we were finally back on the main road and headed home. Inch by inch we gained ground but we had to make sure we had good traction and that meant cutting pine boughs to put under the wheels – we needed a firm foundation.

Well I’ve had those experiences emotionally as well. A failure or hurt can be daunting. Friends leave, loved ones don’t understand and so we can get stuck in our failure and live in self-pity or even become suicidal. Maybe you’ve had a “tremendous” sin in your life that has held you back from serving God. Leaving you with the thought that God couldn’t possibly love or forgive you after what you have done. He can, He does and He already has.

“So we, too, should run the race that is before us and never quit. We should remove from our lives anything that would slow us down and the sin that so often makes us fall. 2 We must never stop looking to Jesus. He is the leader of our faith, and he is the one who makes our faith complete. He suffered death on a cross. But he accepted the shame of the cross as if it were nothing because of the joy he could see waiting for him. And now he is sitting at the right side of God’s throne. 3 Think about Jesus. He patiently endured the angry insults that sinful people were shouting at him. Think about him so that you won’t get discouraged and stop trying.” Hebrews 12:1-3

You notice, it says we are to remove from our lives the things that slow us down. Moses said the same thing to the nation of Israel – you choose.

“Today I am giving you a choice of two ways. And I ask heaven and earth to be witnesses of your choice. You can choose life or death. The first choice will bring a blessing. The other choice will bring a curse. So choose life! Then you and your children will live. 20 You must love the LORD your God and obey him. Never leave him, because he is your life. And he will give you a long life in the land that he, the LORD, promised to give to your ancestors—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Deuteronomy 30:19-20

To go on with God we need a couple things; one, to be looking in the right direction – looking forward and looking up and then two, we need good traction – something solid beneath our feet.

“Jesus Christ did the things God wanted him to do. And because of that, we are made holy through the sacrifice of Christ’s body. Christ made that sacrifice one time—enough for all time…19. And so, brothers and sisters, we are completely free to enter the Most Holy Place. We can do this without fear because of the blood sacrifice of Jesus. 20 We enter through a new way that Jesus opened for us. It is a living way that leads through the curtain—Christ’s body. 21 And we have a great priest who rules the house of God. 22 Sprinkled with the blood of Christ, our hearts have been made free from a guilty conscience, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. So come near to God with a sincere heart, full of confidence because of our faith in Christ. 23 We must hold on to the hope we have, never hesitating to tell people about it. We can trust God to do what he promised.” Hebrews 10:10-14, 19-23

The solid foundation Christ has given us is His sacrifice; it provides us with forgiveness and a right relationship with God (that’s our traction), it gets us out of the ditch of self-pity and unworthiness. The blood of Christ can and has cleansed us from a guilty conscience and put us on the right road with God.

When we’re wrapped up in guilt, and we all go there from time to time, we’re looking the wrong direction. (not choosing the right things) The victory comes in looking at Jesus – looking forward, not back. Looking back, we magnify our failures and sin; looking forward we magnify Jesus and what He did for us on the cross.

So get on track and move forward looking to Jesus and don’t get “stuck” in your past.

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Changing Shadows

Yesterday afternoon Dave and I were sitting on the back patio and he made comment about the way the sun had changed position since earlier in the summer. In the summer, the sun is beating down on the patio by midafternoon and we have to drop the shade to diffuse the light and dispel the heat. Now, on the last day of September the sun was going down further south and casting a longer shadow. It’s amazing – who tells the sun to do that?

Other places in the country and the world for that matter, folks are noticing the leaves turning and even early snowfall. We, here, in the southwest don’t have those indicators but we do notice shorter days, longer shadows and cooling temperatures.

There is one thing that remains the same, winter, spring, summer, fall. There is no change to the faithfulness of our God. The old hymn states

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

No shadow of turning – our Father is consistent. His character of love and goodness has never changed. His mercy and His grace endure forever and they are fresh and new every morning. His compassion never fails. We can never say that God must be in a bad mood or is effected by light deprivation. No, He is the same yesterday, today and forever – He is always good.

“Don’t be fooled, my dear friends. 17 Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father who created all the lights in the heavens. He is always the same and never makes dark shadows by changing. 18 He wanted us to be his own special people, and so he sent the true message to give us new birth.” James 1:16-18 CEV

There are shadows mentioned in the Bible; shadow of death, shadow of other nations, man’s life is referred to as a shadow, and the Law of Moses was a shadow of what God was doing in the earth. However, the only shadow the Lord casts over us is the shadow of His protection.

“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” Psalm 91:1-3 NKJV

“Show Your marvelous lovingkindness by Your right hand, O You who save those who trust in You From those who rise up against them. 8 Keep me as the apple of Your eye; Hide me under the shadow of Your wings,9 From the wicked who oppress me, From my deadly enemies who surround me.” Psalm 17:7-9 NKJV

“How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.” Psalm 36:7 NKJV

“Because You have been my help, Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.” Psalm 63:7 NKJV

So, as the days get shorter and we see the shadows fall it should be a reminder that wherever we are we can trust the Father’s faithfulness to cover us with the shadow of His wings and be our protector.

He never changes!


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Listen to This!

That’s how my morning Bible reading started out:

“Everyone on this earth, now listen to what I say! 2Listen, no matter who you are,  rich or poor. 3 I speak words of wisdom,  and my thoughts make sense.” Psalm 49:1-3 CEV

So I decided to listen!

I periodically do a soul check. I ask myself “am I doing what God wants me to do”, “am I fulfilling the plan He has set for me”, “do I need to let someone younger or more qualified than I take over”. And then I read a verse like this and it makes me come to attention to listen to the Lord and his words of wisdom.

There may be times when you or someone else questions your qualifications to do what God has put in your heart. You’re too young, too old, you’re the wrong gender, not educated enough, educated too much or a whole host of other distracting comments but the thing to remember it’s God who calls and He is the one who qualifies.

I thought of Moses. At 40, he knew his life calling was to deliver the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. He made a mistake and tried to handle things on his own. He killed a man and then fled to another country for 40 years and became a shepherd. While he was there the Lord reminded him of his calling.

“But Moses said, “Who am I to go to the king and lead your people out of Egypt?” 12 God replied, “I will be with you. And you will know that I am the one who sent you, when you worship me on this mountain after you have led my people out of Egypt.”

13 Moses answered, “I will tell the people of Israel that the God their ancestors worshiped has sent me to them. But what should I say, if they ask me your name?” 14-15 God said to Moses: I am the eternal God. So tell them that the Lord, whose name is “I Am,” has sent you. This is my name forever, and it is the name that people must use from now on.” Exodus 3:11-15 CEV

At 80, Moses accepted his calling. Too old? Not according to the “I AM” who called him and promised to go with him.

Too young? Samuel was just a child when his parents took him to live with Eli, the priest. God called him by name.

“The boy Samuel was Eli’s helper and served the Lord with him. At that time the Lord did not speak directly to people very often. There were very few visions…Finally, Eli understood that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 Eli told Samuel, “Go to bed. If he calls you again, say, ‘Speak, Lord. I am your servant, and I am listening.’” So Samuel went back to bed. 10 The Lord came and stood there. He called as he did before, saying, “Samuel, Samuel!” Samuel said, “Speak. I am your servant, and I am listening.” I Samuel 3:1-10 ERV

Wrong gender? For generations it was said that women couldn’t preach or teach, yet Jesus validated women when He was alive. One of the most important messages, the resurrected Christ, was given to a woman.

“Jesus asked her, “Why are you crying? Who are you looking for?” She thought he was the gardener and said, “Sir, if you have taken his body away, please tell me, so I can go and get him.”

16 Then Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him, “Rabboni.” The Aramaic word “Rabboni” means “Teacher.” 17 Jesus told her, “Don’t hold on to me! I have not yet gone to the Father. But tell my disciples that I am going to the one who is my Father and my God, as well as your Father and your God.” John 20:15-17 CEV

Too bad? Too many mistakes? The Apostle Paul had been responsible for arresting and seeing that Christians were murdered. The woman at the well had been married to four men and was living with a fifth.

“Then our Lord gave me much of His loving-favor and faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. 15 What I say is true and all the world should receive it. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners from their sin and I am the worst sinner. 16 And yet God had loving-kindness for me. Jesus Christ used me to show how long He will wait for even the worst sinners. In that way, others will know they can have life that lasts forever also.” I Timothy 1:14-16 NLV

“Jesus said to her, “Go call your husband and come back.” 17 The woman said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said, “You told the truth when you said, ‘I have no husband.’ 18 You have had five husbands. The one you have now is not your husband. You told the truth.”…Many people in that town of Samaria believed in Jesus because of what the woman said about Him. She said, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So the people of Samaria came to Him. They asked Him to stay with them. Jesus stayed there two days. 41 Many more people believed because of what He said. 42 They said to the woman, “Now we believe! It is no longer because of what you said about Jesus but we have heard Him ourselves. We know, for sure, that He is the Christ, the One Who saves men of this world from the punishment of their sins.” John 4:16-18, 39-42 NLV

Listen to This: that’s how all this started this morning. The Lord has given each of us a definite calling and purpose. There isn’t a reason or excuse that can nullify that calling. We can, however, refuse to accept it. The Father has given us a free will and He won’t force us to do anything we refuse to do; He’ll even let us go to hell if we want too.

But when God calls us, He equips us. He never leaves us on our own. The words He spoke to Moses – tell them “I AM” has sent you, applies to us as well.

“I say this because I know the plans that I have for you.” This message is from the Lord. “I have good plans for you. I don’t plan to hurt you. I plan to give you hope and a good future.” Jeremiah 29:11 ERV

“I am sure that the good work God began in you will continue until he completes it on the day when Jesus Christ comes again.” Philippians 1:6 ERV

Listen up! What is the Lord saying to you today?

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Find Rest

A few days ago I addressed the issue of contentment. This isn’t something that we receive a one-time teaching on. No, daily there are things, that creep in subtly or hit us like a Mac truck, that try to steal or successfully steal our contentment. It’s then we need to be reminded that God is in control and we can trust Him.

So this morning I feel admonished to bring you another teaching on contentment. The Lord has always used personal experiences to teach me His word and today’s lesson is no different. I know of nothing that depicts contentment and trust more than a sleeping baby. They are the epitome of trust and contentment.

“Be still, and know that I am God:” Psalm 46:10

I remember when our youngest daughter, Kaci, was just around a year old. She awaken in the middle of the night and I got up with her and took her to the living room to rock her. She shared a bedroom with her sister and I didn’t want to wake her too.

When I got to the living room I sat down on the couch and began to rock back and forth, thinking the rocking motion would lull Kaci back to sleep. She really wanted none of that. She began to lean her body in the direction of the family room and kitchen. (You know that kind of lean, the one little kids have when they want you to take them somewhere. They communicate with body language before they can talk.) I told her softly that there wasn’t anything in there and she just needed to cuddle in and sleep. She continued crying and leaning so I got up, with her in my arms, and walked into the family room, then the kitchen, through the dining room and back to the living room – all the while being led by the leaning of a child.

Once we were back in the living room we sat down on the couch, again. As I began the rocking motion that I had tried to comfort her with just minutes before, she settled in and went to sleep. I looked at her, smiled and thought, “This is where we started, why couldn’t we have done this the first time?”

With that, I heard the Lord minister to me; “How many times do I take you somewhere and you insist on leaning/leading to another place? I patiently give in to your will and then we go full circle and end up back where I had you at the start. I take you back and there you find peace.”

Wow! Lord what a graphic lesson. There have been times when I thought I knew best – I thought I wanted to be any place but here and so I would go from place to place, room to room and come back to find “Be still and know that I am God!”

Here was the place God wanted me to rest. Here was the place He wanted me to be content.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart;  do not depend (lean) on your own understanding. 6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” Proverbs 3:5-6 NLV

This doesn’t mean we take a laissez-faire approach and give up on our dreams and desires. It does mean that we can trust God with our dreams and let Him bring them to pass.

Thanking God today for His mercy – for allowing me to come back to the place of peace where I can “Be Still and Know that He is God!”

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Memory Lane

A few weeks ago while my mother was here visiting we found ourselves talking about the “old times”. This is something we do quite often when we are together.

We talked about her childhood, my childhood and that of my children. I find it hard to imagine what it must be like to have ninety-six years of lifetime to remember. She does so well; sometimes its hard for her to remember yesterday or last week but her memories of times past are sharp.

Several years ago Dave and I made a trip to Arizona from Montana through Colorado and New Mexico. As a girl, I lived in northern New Mexico for about a year. My dad was doing road construction and this was the next leg of the journey.

Anyway…I shared my memories with Dave on that trip and then Mom and I reminisced about those same things when she was here. It was a special time for me; my first snow, picking pinyons on the mountain side, the neighbors peach orchard, good friends who lived close to the creek, Christmas Eve mass at the Catholic mission and visiting the hogans on the Indian Reservation every week and to bring kids into town to the Good News club.

It was a magical time.

When our children were very little, Kim wasn’t quite two and Koy was only weeks old, we moved from Phoenix to Las Cruces, New Mexico. That was a special time for Dave and I.

It was there that God revealed Himself to us as the Great Healer when He healed our son. It was there, too, that we first learned about the victorious Christian life that God wants us to live. We began hearing teaching from God’s word on the authority of the believer and that we weren’t subject to a life of “just struggle through and when we get to heaven it will be worth it all”. Oh yes, it will be worth it but God has called us to be more than conquerors and overcomers in Christ Jesus and our eyes were open to that then. That was forty-two years ago.

It’s good to take a walk down memory lane. In fact, God told the Israelites that they should recall the deliverance from Egypt to their children so they wouldn’t fall into the trap of serving false gods. The Passover was and is a time of remembrance of God’s deliverance.

It’s important to remember!

Sometimes we get so caught up in the hear and now that we forget about God’s faithfulness in the past. Some of today’s problems seem monumental, insurmountable but in remembering the past, we see God’s faithfulness and how He moved to deliver us from the giants of days gone by.

Take time today to recall the miracles God has done in your life – tell someone your testimony. Remember when you gained new insight in God’s word and it brought you out of bondage to fear, to religious tradition, to addictive behaviours, etc. Let your journey be an encouragement to your children and to those you love and maybe even to a stranger.

“Remember these commands I give you. Keep them in your hearts. Write them down and tie them on your hands and wear them on your foreheads as a way to remember my laws. 19 Teach these laws to your children. Talk about these things when you sit in your houses, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. 20 Write these commands on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates. 21 Then both you and your children will live a long time in the land that the LORD promised to give to your ancestors. You will live there as long as the skies are above the earth.” Deuteronomy 11:18-21

Let your walk down Memory Lane encourage you – God was faithful then and He is still the same today.

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