We all have memories that have shaped us into who we are today. The past is very important to our future. I am sad that sometimes our past can cause us to become insecure, untrusting, and/or angry. With that statement said, it is also known that our past produces qualities in us like, faithfulness, peace, being neighborly and a joy to be around. Some of us have had people in our past to aid in the development of characteristics and personalities. Experiencing abuse and abandonment from a parent or infidelity from a spouse could cause a person to deal with insecurities and anger. These inner struggles hinder our lives in ways that we do not realize because we forget about the transforming moments in our lives.
A transforming moment can happen very quickly and unnoticeably. I have made it a practice to take a trip down “memory lane” when it comes to my marriage. When I need to harness my love and joy in my marriage, I began to think about when I first laid eyes on my wife and the how we started out in our marriage to this point today. As my mind is strolling through the memories, I think about how I saw her while I was working drive-thru at McDonalds. When I seen her, not in lustful passion, I felt in me that she would be the one I would marry. When I found out that she was the sister of my co-worker, I was so happy to be introduced to the one who is now my wife. As you can imagine, 22 years later, we have been through a lot of things together, but being together makes me appreciate and love her even more today. Well, this same principle of “memory lane” is applied to my relationship with God.
I have experienced moments of doubt and fear about many things in life, but when the feeling of anxiety interrupts my life, I just look back over my life. Some of you that will read this may say to yourself that there are moments that you would prefer not to remember. My suggestion for you is to face everything that you can remember head on, the good and bad. The reason for this is that when we can think of the darkest times in our lives, we can say that we were not destroyed because God was with us through it all and even to this day. It is not correct thinking to become angry at God because we feel that He allowed it to happen. No, we must understand that when you cried, He cried. The enemy is not just the accuser of the brethren, he is a liar in all things. God is the reason we make it through. The Bible, in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verses 7-9, encourages us to know that when we have Jesus in us, we will go through hard things but because of Jesus Christ we will be just fine. So, if you are dealing with a hard situation right now, just take a stroll down memory lane. You do not even have to change clothes to go but remember how you came out of those almost impossible situations in the past because of God. We have this promise, Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever more (Heb. 13:8). Lift your head up, enjoy your days to come because Jesus is still Lord and He is not just in your memory but in your future. So, acknowledging Him and grown in relationship with the one who loves you the most, Jesus Christ.
