Let's Remember

Gathered in a circle with the familiar group of women in my basement, some sitting on the floor and others curled up comfortably on sofas, we decided to open our time with the common conversation starter of ‘Highs and Lows.’ Everyone was to share a ‘high’ and a ‘low’ from the previous month. 

I had intended this to be a short five minute exercise, but what followed was a time of deep conversation where people shared their most vulnerable aches and joys. The five minutes became two hours as people shared their most hidden places. The aches turned into a time of praying for one another. 

The time together was so meaningful, we decided to repeat it again the next month. We saw God’s movements unfold before our eyes as some women’s greatest aches from the month before had become avenues for God’s greatest victories in their lives.  We saw God moving in real time. We walked away assured God is moving in all of our lives - even those of us whose aches from the month before were still aches. Taking time to be grateful encouraged all of us to look for God in our own circumstances. We all left feeling a little more held. Remembering matters. We see this clearly in the many stories about the Israelites in the Bible.

In Nehemiah 9, we find the Israelites were once again standing in repentance for forgetting God and turning their backs on him. They forgot the God who made the Heavens and Earth, the God who had seen their oppression and miraculously parted the Red Sea, the God who led them through the wilderness, the God who had gifted them the Sabbath, and the God who had provided water and food in the desert. They had seen His lovingkindness, care and miracles, but they forgot. The pain in their life was too loud. They only saw the desert, the tents, the danger and the utter dependence and helplessness that made up their day-to-day life. 

The truth is, we don’t like to live like that either. It only takes a struggle with finances, health, our family, relationships or anything else in our lives we cannot control to cause us to sometimes lose sight of God and who He is. Nehemiah 9:17a says, “They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery in Egypt.” 

Gratefulness helps us to remember what God has done in the past and gives us the courage to lift our eyes above our circumstance and place them on the good God who holds our lives. This gives us hope for the future. When we don’t remember, we often come to the wrong conclusions about God and begin to hold him at arm’s length. Much like the Israelites, we become resistant to him. Forgetfulness leads to waywardness.

Even though the Israelites forgot and turned their back on God, they found He had never turned His back on them. Nehemiah 9:17b says, “But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, Therefore you did not desert them...” When we forget, we, too, will find God to be forgiving, gracious, compassionate, not angry and abounding with faithful love for us. Even in our forgetfulness, he never abandons us. Remembering leads to faithfulness. Let’s be ones who in the middle of hardship, begin to remember the good things God has done in all of our lives.

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” 1 Chronicles 16:34 (NIV)

About the Author

Hi! I'm Wendy Gerdes and I live in Omaha, NE. I've lived here most of my life except for a few years in Florida where I attended Bible school and started married life with my husband, John. We moved back to Omaha with our oldest two sons and had two more children shortly after. We have 3 sons and 1 daughter. I am passionate about motherhood and love the creative work of partnering with God to help our kids develop into who He designed them to be! I love to write, read, hiking and being outdoors. I am most passionate about learning and writing about God's heart for us because when we see his heart for us, it changes everything! Connect with me at wendygerdes.com.