Red Seas
A few summers ago I was challenged with two words: Remember & Remain.
The essence of the push was to remember the times the Lord had been faithful and through that remembrance, to remain when the hard times rolled in. Because in order to remain, we have to make a conscience effort to remember.
Which is all well & good, but the problem is we tend to forget.
The fact that we fail to remember when the Lord has come through for us is no new thing. We have a long list of ancestors who forgot too. I’m looking at you, Israel; does the 'Parting of the Red Sea' ring a bell?
We see the Lord heal a family member, restore a relationship, or take you places you never even dreamed you’d go. He’s opened door after door and yet when the last one seems a little harder to push through, we give up. We cry out. Where are you, Lord? Are you even there? DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE (& not in the fun, Christmas song kind of way).
We forget about all the times He’s been faithful before. So instead of remaining in Him, we start to look for other ways around Him. We try to make it on our own.
We decide wandering around in the desert is better than giving that door one more good push.
We become complacent with our dreams because they're easy, safe & can't hurt us.
Below are questions I’ve used to capture the previous years. I started writing them down last year. Over the course of this year, I’ve literally taken pictures of excerpts from these questions and sent them to friends, because they themselves were the answer to some of these questions.
You don’t have to do all of these, or even some of them, or any of them, but I wish you would. Because even looking back and remembering the ways the Lord has been faithful this year can spur us on to remain close to Him when the road isn't clear.
Reflect back on this year. Remember the hard parts and the times you stood back, amazed. Write down the ways He’s been faithful. Then write big, dream big, and remain in Him as he continues to unfold the purpose-filled life He has for you.
This past year was…
I experienced God’s love through…
I was surprised by…
I learned…
Two Blessing I am thankful for this past year…
If I could do this past year over I would…
In this next year, I hope to experience…
Next year I want to serve others through…
In pursuit of living a life of love, I hope to cast aside...
This next year, I want to work on myself in these ways…
Three things I hope to pursuit next year…
Sum up this past year in one word…
One word I hope this next year represents is…
12/18/2014