I don’t know about you, but I am really good at being forgetful. Grocery trips never result in coming home with all the things my pantry needs, a friend’s birthday slipped right past, and my heart sinks every time a new hard thing happens. I forget the trivial and I forget the eternal. I am a professional “forgetter”. Which is why, when I read about the Ebenezer stone (1 Samuel 7:12), my heart resonated with this act of memorial. To build a monument, stack a stone, or make some kind of lasting gesture that would pull my heart into remembrance of Who God is and what He promises and what He has already done, seemed to be exactly what my forgetful heart needs.
And so, for years now, I have kept a list -& even a stone- as physical reminders of what I have experienced of God and of His faithfulness. These are treasures to my heart.
One of the most powerful things we can do as Believers is to remember God’s past faithfulness, to remember His promises and to remember Who He is. This one simple practice can refocus our vision, taking our gaze from the graves of life to, instead, the Cross-promise of resurrection and victory.
It seems too simple, perhaps. The giants that we face are nothing less than Goliath-like issues and a grocery list of memories doesn’t seem like a viable weapon. But neither did a sling and a few rocks (1 Samuel 17:20-51). Just like David, we can go into battle knowing Who is fighting for us, what God has promised us and all the past times God has gotten us through the hard things and onto victory.
One way to do this is to keep a journal, or a list, of the all the evidence you see of God’s working in your life. This gathering of grace causes us to keep our eyes and hearts open to witness moments of His mercy and record the facts of His faithfulness. You can use a notebook, a stack of rocks in your garden, or send yourself a text message on your phone. I have learned that, once you start taking notice and purposely recording and remembering, your life, your battles and your heart will never be the same.
There are many resources for making these types of lists, but I have included a few you can download and print to get you started today.