remember
and
do not forget
and
when your children ask you
and
as a memorial
All those phrases were coupled with places, times, locations in which God rescued, saved or restored his people, the Israelites. God was very specific. And he was very serious about this. He wanted his people to remember the great work that he had done in their midst AND to tell future generations about that great work.
I am forgetful. My children are forgetful. We as a society forget things that just happened the day before.
It's easy to forget.
But it's important that we don't.
Why?
Because memories are important.
They are powerful.
They help us make choices in the present and help us from making the same mistakes in the future. Memories can make you smile or bring you to tears.
Memories are one of the main reasons I love to scrapbook. The power and importance of memories is why I assigned Sammy to read The Giver this year for school.
Most importantly, memories help us remember what God has done and grow our faith to continue to believe in him and his promises in his Word when the next crisis comes.
It is good for us to remember...even the hard memories.
Dates, anniversaries, months, years, milestones are significant. Reflecting and remembering those days are very, very important to me. And our family hit one of those significant anniversaries on Monday, May 28.
Two months.
Two months since Brad was discharged from the hospital after spending 28 days fighting for his life against Legionaries Disease and Hairy Cell Leukemia.
Two months of good days and bad days. Two months of healing. Two months of exhaustion and gratefulness. Two months of adjusting to our "new normal."
Today....well, today Brad feels great. He's felt really good the last 3 weeks or so.
And just like that...the one thing we prayed for...
normal life again
has, in some ways, been granted.
Last night, as part of family devotions, we talked about what life was like 3 months ago...when Brad first got sick.
Surprisingly, it was hard for our younger 2 kids to really remember what that was like...
Daddy, very sick in the hospital and Mommy, away from the family and caring and advocating for Daddy all day, every day.
So we added another "stone" to our "stones of remembrance."
God spared Daddy's life.
Because I don't want them to forget the miracle that God did in their midst. I don't want to forget how God answered hundreds of people's prayers. And I want to remember how God was near to our family.
Especially today as we prepare for another blood draw and oncology appointment tomorrow.
Remember...remember...remember...
"And when in time to come your son asks you, "what does this mean?" you shall say to him, "By a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery." -Exodus 13:14
"Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children--" -Deut. 4:9
"And he said to the people of Israel, "When your children ask their fathers in times to come, 'What do these stones mean?' then you shall let your children know, Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground." -Joshua 4:21-22
2 comments:
This is a beautiful post, Jenny, and so true. I always appreciate your perspective on family and life in general. Thank you.
Deep breathe in, deep breathe out. There's a current song on our local Christian radio station, or maybe it's been around for awhile and I have just noticed it. Basically two sentences to the version I've been listening to. "This is how I fight my battles. It may look like I'm surrounded but I'm surrounded by You." Gets me through the moment(s) when my strength fails. Love those memorial stones...
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