Time to Remember
Where were they?? Jeez! Why is it that she could have no trouble remembering down to the detail, a book her high school English teacher read to their class 20 years ago, but she can’t remember where she put her car keys? As she rummaged through junk drawer after junk drawer she mumbled to herself “it’s because of all the diet soda I drink! Aspartame is my scapegoat!”
“Ha! Found them!” she cried as she raised her hand high in triumph, keys dangling from her fist.
As she walked out to her car, she mulled. “Memory sure is a funny thing. Howcome some things are easy to remember and some things aren’t?”
She became a believer at a very young age…9 years old, and could remember everything about that moment…where she was, who she talked to, what she said. But as the years passed, her feelings changed.
They say everyone goes through hills and valleys.
Well.
The valley she was in felt more like a deep, dark chasm. And she had no idea how to get out. Her hand paused on its way to the ignition. A cloud of pain and anger quickened her pulse.
She had dreams. Dreams that she desperately wanted to see fulfilled. Dreams that she felt she deserved. Dreams that shattered right before her eyes. Didn’t God care? What she read in the bible said He did. But life didn’t seem to be going well for her, and the more she tried to find happiness, the more it seemed to elude her. She let out a snort.
Fine.
If God won’t do it, she will. He didn’t seem to be paying attention anyway. Few things in this life brought her happiness these days. She was headed out to one of them now.
Pushing the feelings of depression down, she started her car and pointed it in the direction of the grocery store.
“And you were dead in the tresspasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved.”
Ephesians 2:1-5
Just like Eve in the garden, Satan distorts the truth just enough to get you to buy into his lies. Have you fallen for them? Are you requiring God to make life go well for you so you can feel better, and when He doesn’t do you turn from Him?
Have you become so desperate that you seek after happiness rather than seeking after God himself…not to please Him, but to use Him? To use Him to make your dreams come true?
When God doesn’t do what you want or expect Him to do, do you turn to other things to make you happy?
Those things will only end up enslaving you.
As a follower of Christ you are no longer a slave, you are no longer dead!
You have been saved. Rescued. Rescued from and rescued for.
Only a slave knows what it truly means to be free. Only the dead know what it truly means to be alive.
Do you remember?
Do you remember what it was like before? Do you remember what it was like to have the shackles loosened, the chains unbound, the grave clothes removed? Do you remember the voice of your Savior beckoning you out of the chasm?
Listen.
Remember it.
His voice.
Still.
Small.
Strong.
It will drive away the darkness. It will drive away the shame. It will clear away the filth and the stink.
I love you
Do you know what it’s like to be loved in spite of what you’ve done? To be loved no matter what? Do you know what it’s like to really know that there’s nothing you could ever do to make Him love you any less? Do you know what it’s like to live again? To be fully alive? Do you remember?
If you are in a chasm, don’t lose heart dear one. Reach out. Find others. Others who are willing to press into your life and help bring you back. Don’t do it alone. Find those who are willing to invest their time and energy to help you through the pain, the struggle, the tears…the mess. Find who your real Savior is. Tear down the walls you have built between yourself and God.
If you need to be the one others turn to, then be that person. There are so many that need help. They need us to be willing to press into their lives and invest our time, energy and patience in them…to walk with them through their mess. They need us to show them who their real Savior is, and to tear down the walls between them and God.
They need us to remember.
Dear Father, thank you for rescuing this slave…for calling me out of the chasm! Help me to find my people, to invest my time and energy into helping others. Help me to not be afraid of sharing my mess. Help me to remember. Amen.
Thank you Melanie! I remembee