Well, I am going to have to get some posts written before I move to Detroit for the summer for Detroit Summer Outreach (http://www.youthworks-detroit.org/dso.html)!
A good friend of mine is moving to Germany for an indefinite amount of time. She and I have been friends since seventh grade. We graduated from middle school, high school, and now university together. We sat next to one another at commencement. What a gift her friendship has been to me!
I'm making a photo album and a cd for her, pictures and songs that have been important to us over, golly, the past ten years! I cannot believe we've been friends for that long. Looking through old photos and listening to old songs are two things that have been making me think: it's easy to forget the place you came from and old friends as new chapters of life unfold. I've noticed how God has been using these old pictures and songs to remind me of His faithfulness throughout my life and not just within the past two or three years. I realized that we can forget the richness of God's plan for our lives when we don't take time to thank Him for a lifetime of faithfulness. One part of a prophetic word given at a Word of Life prayer meeting was this:
"Througout the coming days and weeks, you will recall your life in my people and you will break into laughter, or a smile will break forth on your lips. And my Holy Spirit will remind you that you belong to a people, and that I am your God. And I will put this hunger into you. A hunger for time with me, and a hunger for me. And I will continue this until I have transformed you into the people I want you to be. Enough is enough says the Lord. Rejoice and delight in me."
It's not that we are called to live in or dwell on the past, but insofar as God is outside of time as we understand it, His goodness and mercy are always loving and forming us. Coming into the presence of Christ can often be like catching up with a dear, old friend. As someone wise once said to me, "When someone asks you, 'Lynne, what is God doing in your life?' You can always honestly and confidently answer, 'He is loving me.'" When I struggle to see His grace in the present, I often look to the past and thank Him for what He has already accomplished.
Level 2 Challege: If we look into the past, may such reflection convict us even more of God's love for us. Can we let His faithfulness over the course of our lives anchor us as we surrender to Him in the midst of current worries, fears, or doubts, or fear of the future?
God, thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you that your blessings ten years ago still love and change us today, because Your grace is outside of "time." Thank you that your plans are perfect and that whatever we think you are doing, we can be sure that you are loving us. Amen.
