Words by our Priest-in-Charge:

Forgot To Remember

Praise the LORD! Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.

Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? Who can declare all His praise? Psalm 106:1-2 

Psalm 106 records the sin that kept Israel outside the Promised Land—forty years in a desert wilderness, going in circles, so close yet so far away. Israel’s failure was she forgot to 1) remember God, and 2) remember His marvelous works. Israel forgot to remember.  It’s the same for me when, left undisciplined, my thoughts focus on unmet desires and what I do not have rather than what I do, and dreams not yet realized instead of those that have been. I forget to remember!

Anytime I call to mind the Lord and His goodness my entire being strengthens. That’s why the discipline of journaling is so powerful. Written thoughts and notes about the day take the time to express my feelings and discern those before the Lord. As I journal this way, a story unfolds, revealing common threads of behavior and habits that I didn’t see before and the story in front of my eyes helps me steer around those.

Writing is a form of confession so my journal contains things I would never tell. Private writing is more truthful and, as truth begins to flow, I discover a more truthful account about my choices and what I (really) value. To a heart under temptation to doubt, the discipline of journaling says don’t go that way . . . you know what happened the last time you did; this time, choose to believe, choose to trust the Lord.

Life moves in circles like the Israelite journey; without some landmarks of progress or the lack thereof, we’re trapped. My journal is my story, something like an autobiography. It reveals common threads of decisions that made for failure and success – my response to those and the ways they marked me – giving me knowledge to steer around strongholds of thought or activity.

I want to remember at least one Red Sea crossing and at least one life-and-death deliverance, plus the ways those changed me! The recall provides context for today’s log of specifics only God could engineer. My focus sharpens and I see there in black and white that the stronghold in my thought life, not the devil, has been blocking my view.

By all means, write the vision and make it plain but also, don’t forget to remember.

Amen.

From Shirley Weaver’s Daily Devotion