I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. Psalm 77:11
You probably have a shelf or two of them as well. Photos, knick-knacks, chotzkies. Things that are precious to you and evoke memories as soon as you notice them. A figurine from your great-grandmother, which you might take to that Antique Show one day to have it valued, sits next to the clay thingamajig your child made for Mother’s Day in second grade. Fading photos of your kids, siblings, parents, and maybe relatives long crossed over to the other side of eternity brings happy tears welling in the corners of your eyes.
You love to point them out to visitors and tell them the story behind each one…if they’ll listen, that is. If you move, I imagine they’ll get an extra layer of bubble wrap.

Do you have a similar, mental shelf filled with the serendipities and miracles God has performed in your life? Do you hold them close to your heart and keep them fresh in your mind to meditate upon on those days you wonder what the purpose to all this is, if things will really turn out alright, or if He hears your pleas?
Maybe you do, and they are recorded in the back if your Bible or in journals. If so, carve out some quiet time this week to go over them, savor them and thank God anew for them.
If you don’t, that’s okay. You can begin to collect them now. How? Simply ask God to help you recall them. Then be attentive when He brings them to mind.
He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate. Psalm 111:4
When we recall all that God has done for us, our attitude can’t help but shift towards the positive. Just like a gas tank, the recounting of His past mercies and favors pumps into our emptiness and makes us full again. As we think about what God has done for us in the past, we can’t help but know He will come through again. His nature is constant. He is unchanging.
He was your Help, your Strength, your Refuge, your Joy and Salvation yesterday, and six months ago, and five years ago. He will be so again today, and for the rest of your tomorrows. Remember that, always.
I cringed at the doctor’s suggestion. A nerve conduction study. Right. Zap the nerve that has had me limping and losing sleep for months. Make it hurt even more. Good plan…but necessary so they can discover where the pinching originates. As the day approached, I prayed more consistently and constantly but my mind kept reminding me of the last time I had one and the tearful screams as that needle…oh, my.
said that 90% of what we worry about never comes to pass, or isn’t half as bad as we predicted. I’ve also read that there are 365 verses in the Bible that speak to fear and worry, one for each day of the year. For me that means God knows we are “wired” to worry—probably because our innate desire to be in control is constantly tested by an out of control world.
As I was applying my eyeliner today, I thought about it in a spiritual way. Yep, God revealed a truth to me as I put on my make-up. Guys, you may not wear eye makeup, but this can “apply” to you as well. Read on to find out why.
I learned a godly truth from a bunch of cilantro. Sitting in my fridge for a week or so, I noticed some of the leaves had rotted before I got to use them in my food. My first instinct was to chuck the whole thing. But I love cilantro, and it isn’t cheap. So I decided in order to keep the lush green ones from being contaminated, I’d pluck them away and sealed them in a storage baggie. Much less icky that snapping away the slimy, brown ones and getting the gunk on my fingers. Blech.
keep them from contaminating us, and uses the good He has found in us to do His will. Then He bags and seals us in His Spirit to protect us and keep us fresh until He can use us.
If it hasn’t happened to you, it will.
algorithm two millennia ago: Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer (Romans 12:12). Jesus used Scripture to keep Satan from seeping into his thoughts while he was in the wilderness being tested.
It made me realize how much we believers need each other in times of weakness. It also showed me how ready people are to help, even without us asking. That’s the love of God flowing through,spreading from one hand to another, muscle to muscle and bone to bone in the Body of Christ.
in need and we need to be needed. It’s a two way street. Part of the commandment from our Lord is to love one another. That means getting into each other’s messy lives by helping and being of help. The love of Christ flows from one human to another. To not receive help from others is to block that flow.
Over my first month as an internet missionary, I have felt the weightiness of words. Words can build up hope or slash a person’s dreams. They can offend or bolster one’s beliefs. They can trigger interest or make someone click off and seek elsewhere on the web.
As Christians, we have been given the Word. We need to not only monitor what comes out of our mouths, but what is typed on our QWERTY boards and appearing on the screens of people we may never have direct contact with.
I have the option to choose to play a winning hand. The daily challenges which appear on my phone each morning guarantee they can be won. Sometimes that is more of a challenge than other days. There are times I have to trust that I am playing a winnable hand, because as I flip through the unplayable cards it sure doesn’t seem possible. But eventually a pattern opens up, and I begin to see that it is plausible after all.
An eighty year-old friend of mine told me of a cruel joke her older siblings would play on her when she was a little girl in order to prove their dominance. They told her they were going to give her to the “rag man”.

grouse about it. How often does He detour me from danger and I complain because things are not happening “my way”? How often were those irritating moments that delayed me –like the cat hacking a furball in my shoe just before I went to slip it on, or a button snapping that I have to quickly repair, or the moving van blocking my exit from my apartment complex for a few minutes– actually work to my advantage without me knowing it?

