Remember when...

I've recently realized how much of a "remember when...?" kind of girl I am. To a fault, maybe. Even without having the best memory, I often find myself saying to my friends "Remember when we did this really awesome thing or had this really funny moment?" It's not terrible to remember things with fondness and be able to laugh at the past, but sometimes I do it so often that I find myself wanting to relive moments that are long gone. I dwell on those memories, wishing, hoping even, to recreate them somehow. But to what end? What purpose do they serve me now? I don't want to find myself dwelling so much on the past that I find it difficult to face the future. The past can, if used incorrectly, blind me from the present and put my future in danger. Blind me from the present because I am too focused on past times and memories to open my eyes and take a look around and see the good things God has for me in these very moments. Put my future in danger because my expectations create limitations to whatever adventure God is inviting me into. It may be different and seem less awesome at first, but how do I know unless I open my eyes to see and let God do the thing that He's good at?

The Israelites left stones of remembrance for themselves to remind themselves and their descendants of the incredible things God had done in their journey. But they didn't camp out at the stone and sit there for years talking about how good it was. They moved forward. And down the road, they put up a new stone of remembrance because there was something else that God had done in them or for them that was also well worth remembering.
God can do more than my little brain can imagine, and I only hope I am willing enough to let Him.

"Remember not the former things,

nor consider the things of old.

Behold, I am doing a new thing;

now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness

and rivers in the desert.

The wild beasts will honor me,

the jackals and the ostriches,

for I give water in the wilderness,

rivers in the desert,

to give drink to my chosen people,

the people whom I formed for myself

that they might declare my praise."

Isaiah 43:18-21

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