I remember...

We have been spending a lot of time remembering at our house lately. We have spent many hours browsing through our massive collection of digital pictures. We purchased our first digital camera in 2004 and since Jeremiah was born in 2005 we have not stopped taking pictures. In fact, it has only become easier since we purchased our first smart phones about 2 years ago. The kids get so excited to sit down and search the photo archives. They cheer for pictures of milestone events. They hit play over and over and over again on short video clips while laughing hysterically at each other’s antics.  It has been some of my favorite moments to open just one more folder of pictures and discover forgotten treasures as a family.

I recently finished leading a book study with a lovely group of wives and on our final evening together we shared stories from how we met and fell in love with our husbands. I took some time to look back at wedding photos to rediscover how our family’s journey began. Tyrone and I are planning a 2 night get away in December and I am going to pack the wedding albums so we can look through them together.

Tyrone and I often lie in bed at night and remember the lives we lived in South Carolina, in Indiana, and now more than 3 years in Arkansas. We have even spent time searching YouTube in order to listen to songs we loved in the college dating years. And movies…don’t get me started on movies. Tyrone loves to discover an old “classic” that he loved as a kid so we can pass it on to our kids.

I love to remember, but it takes effort. It takes time. It requires that I slow down from the pace of life. It means I can’t just crash at the end of the day or shuffle the kids off to self-entertaining activities. It is so important though. That is what I have realized! Remembering is what keeps me grounded. It is what keeps me willing to love and forgive. Remaining aware of the life I have lived – the beautiful and horrible -  inspires me to keep living. It helps me keep God’s faithfulness in mind.

Remembering God’s faithfulness is what gives me hope for the future. Hope means to believe, desire or trust. When I take the time to remember what God has done for me, I can more easily trust the plans he has for me today and the plans he has for our family generations from now. I have been reading Isaiah 40 the past few days. God is comforting his people by helping them remember who he is.

Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
    Have you not understood since the earth was founded? (v. 21)

“To whom will you compare me?
    Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
²⁶ Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
    Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
    and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
    not one of them is missing. (v. 25-26)

Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
    and his understanding no one can fathom.
²⁹ He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak. (v. 28-29)

Tonight we celebrated together as a family as we read our family Bible verses before bedtime. We have been praying Acts 16:14 for Lydia since we chose her name just a couple weeks before she was born.

“One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.”

Last night I had the awesome privilege of praying with Lydia so she could ask Jesus to be her savior. It was so sweet and completely genuine. She said, “Mommy…I want to be in God’s family.” We talked through what Jesus did for her and she prayed each word clearly and carefully. She popped up from her bed to give me a big hug after she said “Amen.” We shared the news with Jeremiah and Maiesha this morning and they each congratulated her and were so happy for her. Jeremiah said, “See you in heaven.” Maiesha said, “Only one more to go.” (Referring to Chloe) Tonight we read her verse, not as something we hope for, but as something that has come to pass. We read it as an answered prayer. I remember the hundreds of times I prayed that verse over her for nearly 4 years wondering when she would understand and believe. We did not give up and God was faithful.

Remembering gives me hope. Remembering helps me to trust. When life gets hard, that is when I need to stop and remember the most. Remember our happiest of times. Remember my worst days. Remember my wedding vows. Remember my first moments as a mommy. Remember the way Tyrone sang to me at our wedding. Remember how God carried me through 2 miscarriages and nearly having cancer. Remember Maiesha’s first day of preschool. Remember how God provided a place to live. Remember how he directed our path to Arkansas. Remember the date and story when each of our children prayed to receive Jesus as their savior. I could go on for days…

Isaiah 40 finishes with one of my favorite verses in all of scripture, and now I think I understand it a little bit better. God called me to remember and then explains the triumph I will experience when I trust (hope in) him.

but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint. (v. 31)