Pathway To Peace...Day Seventeen...Sweet Memories

Day Seventeen          Sweet Memories

In the short time of my marriage, I was blessed with many sweet memories of Mitchell. Our first date…I met him at his house to go to a church to hear his son’s band play…we were so timid as we sat next to each other. I remember feeling like a teenager on my first date, not sure what to say. Then there were the phone calls…we spent hours sharing our views on scripture…he shared how he learned most of his bible knowledge from his grandmother. She must have been a great disciple of God because he always enriched my understanding of a scripture with his own interpretations. We both loved coffee…but I had to learn to make it in a sauce pan with no filter….he liked his strong and black. When we would come home at night we always enjoyed looking up at the sky and sharing a kiss under the stars and moon…the moon would settle just above some of the trees just outside his house. And most precious now are the memories of how he woke with me every morning and just talked while I got ready for school…then we would exchange a cheesy e-mail after we both got to work. I so loved this wonderful way to start my day.  Maybe it is the passing of what would have been our 2^nd anniversary, but I have found myself lost in these awesome memories more often the past few days. They bring small tears of joy to my soul that trickle out through my eyes…and a peace that is most precious in my heart… to realize how blessed I was to build so many memories in such a short time.
God gave me these memories to sustain me in the days he knew I would be without him. They are not meant to hold you back and make you sad. They are given to you to give you strength and courage to face the lonely days ahead. David knew this well. Trapped and hiding in caves from his enemy Saul, his great memories of how God had blessed him gave him strength to wait however long it took.

Psalm 42:4:

   ⁴When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.

Psalm 77:11:

   ¹¹I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.

Psalm 111:4

   ⁴He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the LORD is gracious and full of compassion.

Then there was Jonah, running from God’s orders to preach in Nenevah, he found himself trapped in the belly of a great whale. I can’t imagine what went on in his mind as he rode around with that whale for three days! But it was when he remembered God, and called out to him that he was released to fulfill the task he was given to do. 

Jonah 2:7:

   ⁷When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.

And I also think of the disciples, many days and months after they watched the best friend they ever had ascend into heaven before their very eyes. How the memories of Christ…the scripture he had taught them…the way he taught them to pray…the healings he had performed.  Maybe as they approached the first Easter without Christ at their side, they sat and shared stories of how it was when he taught them.  Oh how they must have longed to have him back at their sides.

John 16:4:

   ⁴But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.

What an awesome strength I have found in my recollections of my few months with Mitchell. When I close my eyes and see another  precious snapshot of Mitchell’s devotion and love,  I simply call out to God and thank him for each of the precious memories he allows me to store away in my heart. God just smiles down on me, wraps his love and comfort around my shoulders, and helps me use the sweet memory to gain a deeper understanding of just how much God loves me.

It must have been that way for Moses too!  How he must have used his memories of his creative mom, quick thinking sister, the lonely princess who saved him, the father-in-law who took him in, and the many miracles God allowed him to perform along his journey to the promised land to find strength in his next task. It was the smile of God, the loving arms of the father, and the comfort of knowing that the staff God had given him could conquer anything that tried to prevent him from finishing the job he was given to do.

Deuteronomy 5:15:

   ¹⁵And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.

I’ll just bet that Moses did not wait until Sunday to worship the Lord. I can see him waking to see a basket on the floor of his tent, and praising God for a mom who loved him enough to save his life. As he left his tent each day and heard the voice of two siblings playing, he must have thanked God for a sister who was smart enough to get a surrogate mom for him. Then as he ate his mid day meal, one of the Israelites who looked so much like his father-in-law made him tack a word of thanks to his food blessing for kind souls who take  in strangers. 

And as he called out to God to help him quiet the next groaning of the people he was given to lead, he must have thanked God for the strength he had built into this weak, stuttering, murderer transformed into a confident, eloquent speaker that knew his sins had been forgiven. This strength formed in the many memories of a life given to God… led a band of people to a land of milk and honey. This strength of God and courage to face an unknown future…helped him complete the task he was assigned to do.