Reflect III - What Do You Do?

Last week I asked the question: “What do you do to recount the words, the promises and the blessings of God to your life?” The question was based on my personal experience that I so quickly forget... even something as precious as the voice of God. Here were some of the answers I received:

• One individual over time had written scripture passages on index cards and divided them into eight stacks.  Each day he would review a stack, and if a prayer, thought, or analogy came to mind, he’d write it on another card. Every eight days his previous “words” were refreshed. Recently he reviewed how many new cards had been added as a result. In 2020 there were 70 new cards!

• “I’m trying to specifically pray and thank the Lord for basic provisions every day, even small ones like the warmth of my coffee, the air I’m breathing, the comfort of our home, and the nearness of family. It has helped me to be more mindful of blessings easily missed and forgotten.”

• One woman shared that in trusting her very strong constitution she found herself suddenly very sick. “As I laid in bed, I asked the Lord to heal me; it felt like I could be sick for a long time. By God’s grace, the symptoms gradually disappeared and this morning I am fine... Yes, I do need the Lord, and he is faithful!” 

• “I share with my spouse revelations and answers to prayers and write them in my prayer journal.  Are they at the front of my mind during the day? Only when I'm getting ready to call or email someone - so that I have something to share. The habit of fellowship forces me to remember.”

• “Over the years, I’ve been learning that my Heavenly Father knows where everything is, everywhere! When I misplace an item I pray and acknowledge that He does know and many times I do find it.”

• I keep a Microsoft Word document called "Insights." As I am responding to a "God breeze," praying over some issue, or thinking over recent happenings, I use the Google microphone to record thoughts. In an evening I paste those dictated emails into my "insights" document.  I enjoy reading through it periodically.

These ways of remembering what God has done and spoken are as varied and unique as the individuals who shared them. However, what I appreciate about all these examples, is that they reflect not a God who is only past, but one who is present and future. God is speaking. God will speak. This is true also in every healthy Scripture study. We read what God has done and has said, with a posture toward what he is saying... to me, now, here:

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. - Hebrews 4:12 

And therefore reflecting is more than remembering what has happened. Reflecting is listening to a God who is speaking. And this active communion between God and man is another evidence of the resurrection:

They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” - Luke 24:32

So whether we have forgotten or still remember what Jesus revealed to us, he remembers... and more importantly is present to pick up the conversation where we left off.